The family of a popular Ibadan-based evangelist is still in shock, and grief, as their matriarch died on New Year’s eve, woke up on New Year’s day, only to finally bid the world bye early Monday morning, January 2.
Mrs. Joyce Daniel, 53, a mother of seven, three boys and four girls, and a known hypertensive patient, slipped into coma December 31, 2011, and spent time under life support, before she reportedly died.
A doctor reportedly broke the sad news to her evangelist husband, James Daniel, in the early hours of January 1, 2012. Then, hours later, she “was found breathing” again by another doctor. The ‘good news’ brought great relief to grieving family members and friends, as they sang and danced over the woman’s ‘resurrection’.
But their joy was short-lived as the woman, fondly called ‘Mama Benji’ in the Abadina area of the University of Ibadan, died for the second and final time within 72 hours in the early hours of January 2. Until her death, Mrs. Daniel, a devout Christian and prayer warrior, used to sell soft drinks and honey in the premier university. She was said to have suffered from hypertension for almost five years and ran from pillar to post, seeking cure.
According to the widower, Joyce’s journey to the great beyond began on December 30, 2011, after she plaited her hair, and began to complain of a banging headache at around 12.30 a.m. Shortly after, she became unconscious and was rushed to Jaja Hall Clinic at the University of Ibadan. From there, she was referred to the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, where she was promptly admitted into the intensive care unit. On December 31, 2011, the deceased was placed on oxygen, among other treatments. But at about 9.30p.m., the husband said a doctor called him and told him to take heart, that his wife was dead.
The news threw the family and neighbours at the Abadina Area into confusion as some students and lecturers thronged the woman’s residence to commiserate with the family. In fact, many sympathisers, especially church members, were in the house till the early hours of January 1, 2012.
However, Evangelist Daniel, the husband told us that a doctor reportedly discovered his ‘dead’ wife breathing at about 5 a.m. on New Year day. And that he got the news via a phone call from the hospital, and he rushed to the hospital, rejoicing. Truly, he found the wife breathing but on life support when he got to the hospital. “Tears dropped from her eyes as she tried at me,” Evangelist Daniel said. But in the small hours of January 2, while family members were still praying for her full recovery, news came that the woman had passed away at about 5.30a.m.
Husband to the deceased, Evangelist Daniel, was close to tears as he spoke to our reporter, last week. “What happened to my wife is known to God,” he said, his face furrowed in sorrow. “My wife was rushed to the University of Ibadan where she was placed under intensive care. On December 31, the doctor called me and told that my wife was dead. I am aware that she had been suffering from high blood pressure. I wept. That was around 9.30p.m. I started calling my relatives so as to organise her burial. I left her on the bed in the hospital after she was confirmed dead. I was preparing for her burial.
“Suddenly, I received another call from another doctor from the hospital around 5.30 a.m. on January 1, 2012, that my wife is back to life and that she is breathing again. I rushed to the hospital and I saw the doctor and other doctors passing oxygen to her. I saw her, she was breathing little by little. I started praying, calling on God. But on January 2, 2012, my wife finally died around 5.35 a.m., and doctor confirmed her dead. Since then, I have been wondering about how my wife died on December 31, 2011, came back to life on January 1, 2012, then finally passed on January 2, 2012.”
The Edo State-born evangelist said his late wife was the “pillar of my home. We loved ourselves dearly. We did everything in common. She was everything to me. I don’t know how to cope with the situation now. Things have not been the same since I retired from UCH some years ago. My wife was everything to me. Whenever the family was in a tight corner, my wife was always running round to bail us out. Now, she is gone.”
When our correspondent visited the home of the deceased, on Aduloju Street, Ojo/Agbowo Expressway, Ibadan, many people were weeping and wailing. The eldest daughter of the deceased, Mrs. Gladys Atobatele, described her late mum as a devout Christian who was also taking care of their sick grand mother even who was battling for life on her own sick bed. “This life is full of mystery and challenges,” Atobatele said, reviewing her mother’s route out of the world.
One of the doctors that attended to the late Mrs. Daniel at UCH told our correspondent that the woman was a known hypertensive patient, and that her illness suddenly deteriorated occurred in the early hours of Friday, December 30, 2011, when she developed severe headache and subsequently slumped. She was rush to Jaja Clinic at the University of Ibadan, where she received first aid treatment before she was referred to the Accident and Emergency Department of the UCH.
The doctor explained that “a computed tomography scan of the brain was done soon after presentation and clinical diagnosis revealed subarachnoid haemorrhage.” This, according to the doctor, “is a form of stroke resulting from the rapture of abnormal blood vessels in the brain with blood flowing to the surrounding of the brain.”
He said experts were called in to review her case, and adequate treatment was given. “When her condition deteriorated rapidly in the early hours of December 31, 2011, the clinical suspicion was that she bled to the brain again,” the doctor continued, pleading anonymity because “only the hospital’s PRO is allowed to speak to the press on any case. She suffered a cardiac arrest on January 2, 2012, and effort at resuscitating her was unsuccessful, she was certified dead that morning.”
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