Ebi’s Story

For Gbenga Joseph Oluabey, his wife Ebi and their two year-old daughter Adora, Friday the 19^th of January 2007 was just like any other day. There was work to prepare for and the usual care for baby Adora to sort out. Little did they know that a chain of events would send their world spiralling towards a heart wrenching direction.

Rivers state – born Ebi, a consultant quality adviser with STAOIL started feeling unwell; husband and wife linked the cause of Ebi’s illness to her four-month old pregnancy and like all reasonable people will do in such circumstances, they decided to attend their local Basildon Hospital for routine check up. At the hospital the couple were sent back home and told not to worry, that everything was alright but everything was not alright. Perhaps if the hospital had taken a bit of care, if only they had dug up Ebi’s case history, they would have discovered that Ebi was a special case.

Ebi had told Gill Moorhawk, author of Miracle Babies in an interview granted in November 2006 which was published by Daily Mirror that she never particularly wanted children, “But after three months of being married”, she says, “I discovered I was pregnant. As we told family and friends, I started to warm to the idea and get excited”.

Continuing, she said that it was when she started to have complications that she realised how desperate she wanted to be a mum, “I began bleeding quite heavily and was in terrible pain. It turned out that I had a fibroid and I was constantly worried that I’d lose the baby. The doctors monitored me at least once a week and we didn’t know what could happen from one day to the next”, she continued.

One night she says, “I suddenly realised that the whole bed was covered in blood and water. By the time an ambulance took me and Joseph (her husband) to hospital, our baby was dead. I’d known Joseph for years and never seen him cry before”.

Ebi traces her condition to her family, “My mum Justina had five children and four miscarriages, so it’s obviously a family problem”. The hospital at Basildon should have kept Ebi overnight for thorough checks but they did not. If they had, perhaps they would have discovered that her water had broken again prematurely.

By the next day being Saturday, the 20^th of January 2007, the Oluabeys were back in hospital, Ebi’s condition had worsened and an emergency ambulance was required for the short journey from their Chafford Hundred home to the hospital. Ebi finally gave up the ghost around 1.00 AM the next day Sunday, January 21^st 2007. She had died of septicemia (blood poisoning).

Only if the hospital which has a history of patient neglect had taken this human life a bit more seriously, perhaps Ebi would have still been here today. This is another sad story of death in the NHS.

For family and friends of Ebi, words are not enough to express their feelings, the tribute written by Gbenga posted on the website; bestmemoriesofebi.com best captures their collective mood.

Ebi my Love

I love you so much, No amount of word can express how much I love you.
Although I reiterated my love to you a thousand times everyday,
Still It cane never be enough.
Still I hold you in my arms and gaze into your loving eyes till the dawn of
morning,
Still it’s like a drop in a mighty ocean,
Though I kiss your soft lips, sharing the same breathe with you.
I wish it’s sustaining enough to make you stay.
Oh I love you, I love you, I love you

Ebi My best friend
My Confidant and gatekeeper to my secrets,
Your ears are ever ready to listen,
your hands are always so strong to carry,
And your smile is always there to encourage.
You are always a friend indeed.
Seven years has passed since we’ve been together,
Laughing, smiling, hoping and sharing together,
Even celebrating life in tears sometimes,
But we’ve always gone through everything together,
Oh I’ll miss you.

Ebi my wife
Your are the only woman I ever wanted and ever had,
the epitome of virtue,
the church personified
I have learnt from you how to be a good husband to a loving wife,
the perfect dad to our beloved Adora,
And a reputable man in the society
Your smile and courage will forever remain indelible in my memory
I will always love you, and I will surely miss you.
Ebi my Beautiful Wife

In memory of Mrs Ebi Oluabey, 4^th June 1974 – 21^st January 2007.