Salome Karwah, a Liberian nurse who survived the deadly Ebola epidemic passed away from pregnancy complications on February 22, 2017. She was age 28.
Now known as Salome Harris after marrying her fiance, Harris had a healthy baby boy—her fourth child—who was delivered by C-section on Feb. 17. She went home a few days later, but went into convulsions and was rushed back to the hospital—only to have staff refuse to touch her because of her past Ebola illness (she was foaming at the mouth and they were afraid of the fluids).
Karwah told her Ebola recovery story on the Doctors Without Borders website in 2014, noting that her parents ended up dying while she was recuperating and how she believed God had kept her, her fiance, and other family members alive “for a purpose.” That purpose, in her mind, was to keep others from succumbing to the disease, as well as to fight against the stigma people with the virus often face—the same stigma that may have contributed to her death, her sister tells Time.
A 2014 Wall Street Journal profile described Karwah’s dedication, with the then-26-year-old working six days a week to feed, bathe, and comfort her sick patients. “To survive Ebola and then die in the larger yet silent epidemic of health system failure—I have no words,” a health advocate who toiled alongside Karwah tells Time.
