Anxiety as ‘sudden death’ scourge soars amongst Nigerians
..Experts proffer solutions
BY ADA DIKE
In January this year, a video of a man who collapsed and passed away while dancing during his birthday party went viral. His guests were still laughing and cheering him on without knowing that he was stone dead.
After watching his lifeless body for some minutes, one of the guests had gone to him, only to discover that he was not acting or playing pranks. He then beckoned to others to come and assist.
Someone commented that it’s likely due to cardiac issues. “It’s a reminder that knowing CPR, which can be learned from instructional videos on platforms like YouTube, is crucial. You don’t have to be a healthcare professional to perform basic CPR, and it might have made a difference in this tragic situation,” he said.
Many professional footballers have collapsed in the pitch during matches. One of them, Samuel Okwaraji, was a talented Nigerian footballer who died at the National Stadium, Lagos in August 1989 while playing for Nigeria in a World Cup qualifier against Angola.
Born on May 19, 1964 in Orlu, Imo State, Nigeria, he grew up in Lagos and played professional football in several countries, including Belgium, Austria, Germany and Italy.
Someone wrote: “In the 71st minute of the match, referee Hounnake Kouassi gave Okwaraji his last yellow card, and just six minutes later, he collapsed on the pitch and passed away from heart failure. The loss of such a talented athlete was felt deeply by both the Nigerian football community and the world at large.”
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In a post titled, ‘The sudden death phenomenon’ by former Delta State Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof Hope Eghagha, some time ago, he wrote how sudden death experience hit close to him when his only younger biological sister Rachael jumped into the night of her life without notice.
In his words: “Rachael was a 39 year old boisterous and active artiste/arts reporter in Lagos; she dropped dead suddenly after alighting from a taxi somewhere in Surulere late in 2004, about November.
“It happened on a Monday evening after the day’s work, after she had been paid for some job she had done, after she had just moved into her own apartment and ready to start life on her own.
“As everyone headed home at close of work, she went into the last home of humanity.
“The Saturday of the previous week, she had phone-called me to lament the death of Jaiye Aboderin who had slumped on the basketball court that weekend after a dunk; she was supposed to interview Jaiye for her magazine after I linked them up.
“Little did she know that her own exit was around the corner!
“It was a rude shock to me, to the entire family, and the Arts community in Lagos. But it made me more conscious of how vulnerable we are as human beings to the call of death.
“While we got ready for her funeral I got to know of more sudden deaths stories across the land. The late Elder Segun Olusola was a senior friend of Rachael’s.
“He called to tender his apologies about his inability to attend the funeral and said he was going to attend the funeral of a Permanent Secretary who had died at his desk in the office.
“I also got to know about a cab driver whose passenger died in the back seat while in transit from Ikeja to Victoria Island. When they arrived at their destination he wouldn’t wake up. The cab driver was in trouble!
“In recent times too many people have dropped dead, with no obvious sign of ill-health. A couple of young people have died while exercising; others have died while descending the staircase.
“The most dramatic of sudden deaths happened to a former schoolmate somewhere in Bayelsa State.
“A man in his early fifties, I guess, he had just been made a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. The week after his thanksgiving he slumped one morning when he entered his car ready to drive off to work.
“He died a week later in the hospital. Last September a healthy-looking 55 year-old man slumped at his place of work on the island in Lagos.
“He was rushed to a highbrow hospital and died about five days later, a victim of a massive heart attack.
“The list is long. I am sure some of us reading this would have one story or another to tell. Why are sudden deaths on the increase? Why are men and women in the thirties or forties victims of sudden death?
“I am not a medical doctor; so I am not in a position to proffer scientific reasons why these deaths have been on the increase. I can only guess. I know that stress level is very high right now in Nigeria. Money to pay the house rent. Money to pay school fees.
“Money to maintain the car. Money to feed the family. There is the problem of traffic congestion.
“Family pressure and social demands are also there. Too many friends and family need help. Pressure to help the kids get employment, settle down and get married. I have been forced to read up literature on the subject. Indeed, Mr. Sudden Death is very much here.
“Life style, heart diseases, uncontrolled hypertension, high levels of bad cholesterol and severe stress conditions are said to be some of the causes.
“Sadly, when it happens we begin to look for ‘remote’ or ‘spiritual causes.’ That is when some catch the witch in the office or in the family or where they live. Ignorance is indeed a disease.
“Our lives have become so sedentary that we do not exercise the body enough. We sit down for hours on end tasking the brain and stressing the body.
“Some people sit down from 8 a.m. till 5 p.m. in front of the computer, anxiously watching the screen and reading reports which could make the heart fail.
“We move from the computer to the smartphone reading news reports or looking at pictures that do not help the heart.
“Breathing behind us the determination to succeed or to out-do our rivals. Office and social pressures are also there. Sometimes we go to bed but the mind does not sleep. We wake up tired and set out again for the day’s uncertainties.
“On the flip side, when you stay by a dying friend, family member or colleague, you sometimes wish that sudden death would be better.
“A man who stays sick for three to five years, suffering, going in and coming out of hospital and dies in the end would make one wish that death had come earlier.
“The terrible terminal diseases are the greatest culprits in this. I remember once telling two elderly citizens that going out suddenly was best for anyone.
“A sudden death is no tea party. It disorganises the family and all the people around the victim.
“The demands of modern day living can dive anyone crazy. They can make people go to bed without waking up. So we should think and worry less. Worrying cannot change anything.
“Nobody should carry on as if they are work machines; even machines do break down. Remember that the body needs rest. Remember to get enough sleep. Remember to exercise. Remember that working too hard all year round is hazardous to health.
“Remember that when you drop dead the office would look for a replacement immediately, even before your body runs cold.
“‘Remember that if you drop dead suddenly you would throw your loved ones into confusion and sometimes perpetual disadvantage.
“Remember to listen to your body clock and pause for a while if you are tired.
“Remember to feel and enjoy the simple things of life particularly with family. Above all, for those who believe, commit the troubling issues to a higher force which provides a better framework for enduring the stress of modern day living!”
To avoid sudden death at night, a doctor has advised those who get up at night to check the house or urinate to take note of three and half minutes. “Three and half minutes will greatly reduce the number of sudden deaths.
Often, this happens: a person who still looks healthy has died at night.
“We often hear stories of people saying: “Yesterday, I was chatting with him, why did he die suddenly? The reason is that when you get up at night to go to the bathroom, it is often done in a hurry. We immediately stop and the brain does not have blood flow.
“Why are “Three and half minutes” very important? In the middle of the night, when the desire to urinate wakes you up, for example, the ECG pattern may change.”
In a video he tagged: Epidemic of Death in Nigeria. Heart and Sudden Collapse, The Danger, Signs and Permanent Treatment,
Dr. Richard Okoye revealed how the sudden death can be reduced in Nigeria.
Popularly known as Dr. Savealife, he narrated how he could not hold his tears watching a young lady who was still in school but was dazed after her father was confirmed dead.
He said the man collapsed when he was with his family after morning devotion.
“This lady wept and said: “Daddy, tell me that this is a prank. Please, tell me.”” he said he wept because the girl’s future was blank.
the President of Doctors Save A Life Foundation emphasized that so many people lost their fathers, husband’s, sons, friends and loved ones on something they can’t explain, adding that people always attribute sudden death in Nigeria to spiritual problem. “But, all of a sudden, it started hitting men and women of God right there in the pulpit.”
He shared a story of how someone said her husband had been taking his drugs and seeing his doctor and wondered why he died suddenly.
“Today, I will show you that most of this death can be prevented. Heart problem is beyond just drug taking. If there be any need on permanent solution, the earlier the better,” he enthused.
With some diagrams and illustrations, he explained how the death started and how it can be reversed.
Dr. Okoye encouraged viewers to share his tips, adding that even burials are also not cheap.
The doctor, who has many followers online showed a picture of a heart, which he said will
beat 60 to 100 times every minute. “If it goes below or high, it is crisis in the making.
“The heart has four chambers. The heart supplies blood to the body and it comes back to the heart. And when it is coming back, there’s no oxygen in it because it is de-oxygenated, it gets into the first right of the heart called atrium.
“If the blood gets into the chamber, it passes through a particular valve that very blood has to be carried to the lungs, where it will get oxygen. From there, it carries it to the left side of the heart atrium. When this one goes, it gives blood to the brain. If by any reason this particular blood does not move in seconds, this very brain doesn’t receive any blood, this person will be on the floor.”
On what would make blood not go out, he said there is something naturally put in the heart called S.A node, otherwise called natural pacemaker. The pacemaker, according to him, is what suddenly starts the heart and the heart starts pumping on its own automatically. It releases electrical activity.
“There are people who have line when the heart start going weak, you will discover that the natural pacemaker is not working the way it is supposed to work. There are people that their hearts are not healthy, it can’t carry pressure. You see this person get easily tired or breathless during exercise. Sometimes, there is no symptom yet, something ugly happens. Secondly, this happens also when the heart is beating very fast. This kind of people will be very uncomfortable. The palpitation will be there. It’s called tachycardia (high heart rate).
“When this problem continues, another problem could happen if stayed very high for a while, nothing could be done. That may have been raised into quiver and by raising of quivering, someone can sleep and won’t wake up, people will say one attack or one demon has killed him.
“You can have another problem which, if a heart is diseased, (the lower side of the heart called the right ventricle). In a situation where that very heart again becomes high, the heart will not be able to pump blood to the lungs, the person may begin to have tiredness and sudden chest pain. From there, the person can go into ventricular fibrillation and the person will be on the floor because no oxygen will get to the lungs.
“If left ventricle is not working, right ventricle will not work and the person will collapse, lifeless. That’s when they say he had cardiac arrest,” he said.
Okoye told what happened to a popular footballer when he collapsed in a field. Fortunate for him, he got intervention and got up in minutes.
He further explained why the footballer came back and played for another 90 minutes.
“How come most people abroad who passed through what our people pass through are still alive today whereas, our own are buried? He asked. The crucial question is, how do we identify people who have a problem? “That is why we made a provision for people to get their ECG done at the right time. It’s a life-saving solution to heart disease (Arrythmia).”
He posits that when the heart rate is slow, to be able to build it to a capacity, that individual needs a pacemaker. If the person’s heartbeat is 60 beats and downward per minute, the engine is steaming very low, he or she needs a pacemaker to stepup and balance you to be in a position to sustain, and also in a case of heart failure, this person has become weaker, the heart is bad, he or she can’t work. He gets tired when he makes any movement. The legs are swollen, he or she can’t sleep. That is to say the heart has failed. The paramount solution to that could come from CRT (bi-ventricular pacemaker).
“When you experience those things, people may advise you to be taking your drugs.”
He advised people to visit cardio lab where the procedure will be done.
