RIP ZARA

Zara Gretti Was Being Given Agbo
To Treat Multiple Sclerosis'' -
Yemisi Is Upset!
Yemisi Ilo, a creative consultant and project
manager has been living with Multiple Sclerosis
for nearly 10 years and angry that Zara Gretti’s
sled to her death bares her mind …..Zara passed
on Friday March 28th about a year after making
her illness public.
Yemisi is really upset and bares her mind...
''I also have MS and I am currently in Singapore –
where by His grace I will finally halt the
progression and hopefully and prayerfully reverse
some if not all disability. I spoke to Zara on
Tuesday. She said she was being given ‘Agbo’ to
drink by her family and that it was killing her.
Those were her exact words. I told her to not
drink it. With an already compromised immune
system – Agbo is bullshit. It is poison. MS is not
malaria. I gave Zara clear details of exactly what
she needed to do to try to get well. It isn’t easy at
all - I should know but unfortunately for her, she
was surrounded by very ignorant people at the
end who felt that they knew best. I first heard of
Zara when I read about her on Linda's blog a year
ago. I got in touch with her immediately and
started a Skype friendship. I was in London and
she was in the States (US). We spoke regularly.
When I went back to Lagos, we would WhatsApp
and I would call her. When she came to Nigeria in
October last year, I went to see her and she was
surprised that she could move better than me! I
organized the Battabox interview (which we did at
my parents house). She said she didn’t want to
live with her mum in the States – yet she had no
one to look after her there apart from her mum.
She needed someone. She even wanted to come
and stay with me, but I am married with small
children and my own MS issues were already
enough for one house.
I am so pissed off, so angry, so fucking sad, teary
and frustrated. If I had been in Nigeria, I would
have gone to pick her up on Tuesday when I
spoke to her. She was so desperate to leave
Ogba. She said she had a return ticket to America
and would try to leave ASAP. I gave her my
neurologist’s number so she could get some
steroids to help her get over the horrible relapse
she was having. Also to get her to explain the
condition to Zara’s family so they would realize
that this was not an ‘Agbo’ matter. I have had MS
for nearly 10 years. My walking has deteriorated
and I am currently alternating between a walker
and a wheelchair. Zara was worried that she
wouldn’t get married and have kids – I told her
that I had 4 kids and was happily married and
continued to work and that there was hope. I have
always been vocal about MS and even appeared
on a ‘Moments with Mo’ episode talking about it.
There are many Nigerians with MS – I know a few
but they want to keep quiet. Their families are
embarrassed. Why? I don’t know? It can happen
to anyone at any time.
Granted, I am extremely fortunate to have the
strength of character and a loving and supportive
and enlightened family to deal with this HORRIBLE
condition that has led to this opportunity for me
to undergo Hemapioetic Stem Cell Transplant
(HSCT) – Google it. It has taken donations from
over 100 people to do this. It costs over $150k
(N24,727,501). I told Zara that since she was a
US citizen, she could get on a trial at the
University of Chicago under Dr. Burt for free. I just
want people to know that MS didn’t kill Zara –
ignorance did. As well as our fatalistic attitude in
Nigeria where everyone prays and no one takes
action.''