A Professor and Consultant Surgeon at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Nsukka, Felix Chukwuneke, has taken to social media to mourn his daughter, Chisom, who died on October 18, 2020, barely a year after being named the best graduating student of Graceland School, Enugu.
Chisom, according to the school, obtained seven distinctions at the West African Senior School Certificate Examination in 2019.
The father said in a Facebook post that he flew her to South Africa for treatment after she complained of leg pain but her condition soon got worse, leading to her death.
The professor stated that his daughter died just a day to his birthday and 10 days after she had promised him a special gift.
A poem he wrote, reads in part, “Just like a dream. But the realities are crystal now; just a pain in the leg that snowballed to a devastating episode. The battle started earnestly. I hear you call daddy my leg is paining me. I watch as you lie abed with pain. As restless and worried as I can be, I promised to do everything humanly possible.
“With glaring poor health care in Nigeria, off we went to South Africa. We were happy at your initial recovery not knowing the war was just to begin. We fought it together for more than a year in SA. You were an embodiment of intelligence of inestimable value
“You spoke in parables about a special gift 10 days earlier, and left a day to my birthday. Never did I know your special birthday gift you promised was your glorious exit. You exhibited your virtuoso and dazzling intellects, to the bewilderment of the doctors at Wits Donald Gordon Hospital Parktown Johannesburg South Africa Today your name is written in Gold over there.”
Chisom is expected to be buried in Anambra State on November 29, 2020.