HEALTH-EBOLA/SPAIN NURSE HUSBAND Ebola nurse's husband thanks medics for saving Teresa Romero's life

Record ID: 565627

  • Title: HEALTH-EBOLA/SPAIN NURSE HUSBAND Ebola nurse's husband thanks medics for saving Teresa Romero's life
  • Date: 27th October 2014
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (OCTOBER 27, 2014) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF SPANISH EBOLA INFECTED NURSE'S HUSBAND JAVIER LIMON ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE ROOM MEDIA CLOSE UP OF LIMON POSING MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) EBOLA INFECTED NURSE'S HUSBAND JAVIER LIMON, SAYING: "Teresa and I want to thank the Alcorcon and Carlos III hospital employees, especially doctors, nurses, assistant nurses and cleaning employees. They have given her their full support and lots of love, and without that it wouldn't have been possible to save her life. I owe them that; they have given me my wife back and we can now plan a future together." MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) EBOLA INFECTED NURSE'S HUSBAND JAVIER LIMON, SAYING: "This is a time to ask for responsibilities and clear Teresa's name. She was never guilty. The only thing she did wrong was to love her profession and love others. Teresa volunteered knowing that she was putting her life in danger. No one checked out what went wrong and that could have killed her." LIMON AT NEWS CONFERENCE CLOSE UP OF STATEMENT CLOSE UP OF LIMON READING STATEMENT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) EBOLA INFECTED NURSE'S HUSBAND JAVIER LIMON, SAYING: "Those steps I used to hear when I reached the door, the warmth I used to feel when holding him, the way he always used to lie down between Teresa and me. That jealous animal that demanded love when caressing another dog, that loving dog. That is what they have taken from me and I will never feel again, neither my wife nor myself." CLOSE UP OF LIMON VARIOUS OF LIMON LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 11th November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAXENB4HYZNHECFNLCLC22Z0KK
  • Story Text: Javier Limon, the husband of the Spanish nurse who became the first person to contract Ebola outside West Africa, thanked on Monday (October 27) all the hospital employees that had taken care of his wife, now cleared for the deadly disease.
    "Teresa and I want to thank the Alcorcon and Carlos III hospital employees, especially doctors, nurses, assistant nurses and cleaning employees. They have given her their full support and lots of love, and without that it wouldn't have been possible to safe her live. I owe them that they have given me my wife back and that we can now plan a future together," Limon told reporters at a packed news conference.
    Teresa Romero, 44, was diagnosed with Ebola after caring for two priests who had contracted the disease in Africa and were then repatriated to Spain. Both men died, one in August and one in September.
    Tests on the nurse, treated in an isolation unit in a specially-adapted hospital in central Madrid, gave a negative result for the virus last Sunday, the government said in a statement.
    But the Spanish government has been under fire for its handling both of Romero's case and the threat of a wider outbreak of the disease.
    Limon, who spent 21 days in hospital isolated as well as the 15 other people under observation for signs of the disease, said it was now time to ask the Spanish government to take responsibility as he felt his wife had not been treated fairly.
    "This is a time to ask for responsibilities and clear Teresa's name. She was never guilty. The only thing she did wrong was to love her profession and love others. Teresa volunteered knowing that she was putting her life in danger. No one checked out what went wrong and that could have killed her," Limon stated.
    Romero was treated with a drip of human serum containing antibodies from Ebola sufferers who had survived the disease and other drugs which a government spokeswoman has declined to name.
    Under the handling of the Ebola crisis, Romero and Limon's dog was put down by health authorities only hours after the nurse was diagnosed with the virus saying it posed a biological risk and there was evidence dogs could carry the virus.
    Limon said he would miss the labrador-type breed called Excalibur, who lived with them in a suburban Madrid flat.
    "Those steps I used to hear when I reached the door, the warmth I used to feel when holding him, the way he always used to lie down between Teresa and me. That jealous animal that demanded love when caressing another dog, that loving dog. That is what they have taken from me and I will never feel again, neither my wife nor myself," he stated.

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