Tragedy struck in Enugu during the week as pretty and brilliant Chisom Chukwuneke, a schoolgirl who emerged the best 2019 candidate in the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) has passed away after losing the battle to blood cancer.
17 years old Chisom graduated as a student of Graceland in Enugu where she smashed her WAEC with an outstanding 7 A1s and won numerous awards. She suffered from cancer of the bone marrow.
Douglas Ifeanyin Uzochukwu, principal of the Graceland College in Enugu, where she graduated confirmed the tragic dead describing it as a colossal loss to the family, the school and the nation.
According to the principal, Chisom, 17, died after a prolonged treatment in South Africa.
“I’m not her father. I can’t speak much on that but she passed on from leukemia after prolonged treatment in South Africa,” the principal offered.
In a statement published via the school’s Facebook page, it wrote: “Forever in our hearts! Only a moment you stayed, but what an imprint you left in our Hall of Fame. A truly outstanding student! Rest In Peace Chisom!”
Felix Chukwuneke, a Nigerian professor identified as the father of the deceased, alsotook to Facebook to narrate how Chisom’s sickness started as leg pain.
He said this had prompted him to fly her to South Africa for medical care.
“Just like a dream but the realities are crystal now. Just a pain on 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,” he said in a long tribute to the deceased.
“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. Above all an indefatigable personality, courageous in the face of glaring uncertainty. You were strong, philosophical.
“My strength even in sickness, you wanted your dad freed while you go on to rest. In the bosom of our Lord where there is no more pain. You spoke in parables about a special gift 10 days earlier, and left a day to my birthday.
“Never did I know your gift you promised was your glorious exit. You exhibited 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. Like a shining light in the tunnel, having a dream for an African Child with less privilege and opportunity like you to access good health care. This your dream I must ensure.”
