Wounded Hearts

"e;Wounded Hearts: My Roller-Coaster Journey into Third-World Health Care"e; traces Patience Akinosho's journey through Nigeria's broken health care system after her annual trip to visit family was interrupted by the illness of her younger sister, Sally. The unexpected loss of this laughter-filled young woman with a disability, who died a senseless death at the hands of a poorly trained surgeon, inspired this narrative, which only hints at the inadequacy of a system designed to treat the nation's estimated 206 million people. This harrowing story gives a new generation of Nigerians and their leaders a glimpse of the problems they are faced with, so they can be inspired to affect change. From the birth of Patience's sister, God's grace upon her life, an unexpected pregnancy, and the miraculous birth of her only child; readers get a firsthand look into sisterly love and the pain of losing a loved one. The competing needs of doctors to either survive or care for their patients often leaves the citizens at a disadvantage, victims of a system that prioritizes greed- not health.