There were many brave people who geared up in 2014 to fight against the Ebola epidemic that took the lives of more than 11,000 people. At the time, the Ebola outbreak had spread throughout West Africa in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
Amongst the medical aids that put on protective gear to ward off the highly contagious disease was nurse Salome Karwah. This week, Karwah — who lost both her parents to Ebola and survived the disease herself — died during childbirth, TIME reports.
On Feb. 17, Karwah gave birth to her fourth child, Solomon, before she lapsed into convulsions. As Time reported, her husband and her sister rushed her back to the hospital, but no one would touch her. Her foaming mouth and violent seizures panicked the staff.
The lingering suspicion that Ebola survivors still harbor the deadly disease is partly to blame, The Washington Post writes.
“They said she was an Ebola survivor,” Karwah’s sister said. “They didn’t want contact with her fluids. They all gave her distance. No one would give her an injection.”
The next day, Karwah died.
Telling her personal story to The Guardian, Karwah previously shared how, “God spared my life from the disease … I survived Ebola for a reason – to help others recover.”
“To survive Ebola and then die in the larger yet silent epidemic of health system failure… I have no words,” said Ella Watson-Stryker, a MSF health promoter who was also featured alongside Karwah in the Ebola Fighter’s TIME cover.