How I died for a week and woke up – Patience Jonathan

How I died and woke up after a week - Patience Jonathan

by Isi Esene
In what sounded like a narration of how she spent her ‘moment’s rest’, Dame Patience Jonathan yesterday, at the Presidential Villa chapel opened up on her experience while away in Europe in what many had suspected was a medical trip.
The First Lady who did not reveal the nature of her illness told those in attendance at the Special Thanksgiving service that she passed out for several days and was practically requesting for her doctors to operate on her at the height of her sickness.
According to her: “I remember when Chief (Olusegun) Obasanjo was the President of the country, I was close to his late wife, Stella. We worshipped together in this chapel.
“It was a painful moment for me that time when she died and her corpse was brought here. That was how my corpse would have been brought here. It was not an easy experience for me. I actually died; I passed out for more than a week. My intestine and tummy were opened.
“I am not Lazarus but my experience was similar to his own. My doctors said all hope was lost.
“A black doctor in London who is with us in this service was flown in when the situation became critical. It was God himself in His infinite mercy that said I would return to Nigeria. God woke me up after seven days.
“I know that some people somehow leaked the information that I was dead. They are people that I trust and rely on; to them, I was dead and I would never return to the country alive. Some of them even sold my things off.
“I won’t say everything here. It is the Lord’s doing that I returned alive. When God says yes, nobody can say no.
“People are always afraid of operation (surgery) but in my own case, while my travail lasted, I was begging for it (surgery) after the third operation because I was going to the theatre every day.
“It was God who saw me through. I did eight or nine operations within one month. It was not an easy one.”
At the reception organised after the service, President Goodluck Jonathan thanked God for sparing the life of his wife.
He reportedly said, “The story was that one of us (the President or his wife) will die. Today we are celebrating her.
“Her recovery has put an end to that belief. I am not too good in celebrating, but for this particular one, I think we have to thank God for keeping the life of my wife.
“If anything had happened, there would have been different stories. Fake prophets would have given their stories. As mortals, we must fall sick and die but how and when is what matters most.
“To die when serving your people is not good. Death should come after you have finished serving.”
It is pertinent to note that all through this period of the First Lady’s absence, her media handlers maintained that she was in Europe taking a moment’s rest to take time-off her grueling itinerary after hosting the African First Ladies Summit.