37-year-old Nigerian lawyer working as caregiver in UK slumps, dies

A 37-year-old Nigerian woman working as a caregiver in the United Kingdom slumped on February 22, and died two days later.

The victim, Chidimma Susan Ezenyili, known as Suzy, collapsed while on duty in the street of Bishop’s Stortford.

Ezenyili who was a lawyer in Nigeria was tendering an elderly woman, Ian Hale in Scott Road, but a report said she was not feeling well herself but managed to work before her collapse
on the fateful day.

Ezenyili and her husband, Friday left Nigeria in August 2023, to go and work as caregivers on sponsorship visas to give their toddler daughter Mandy a better life.

The 37-year-old migrated to the UK and had been caring for the 86-year-old Hale for the past five months.

Hale’s daughter, Catherine Segal, said, “She (Ezenyili) was driven there by her husband with their three-year-old daughter as she wasn’t feeling well but didn’t want to let my dad down.”

When Segal recounted the incident, she said the caregiver collapsed on Thursday, February 22, and stopped breathing and did not have a pulse.

“Naturally, her husband started shouting for help. The neighbourhood raced to help. Myself and my husband ran outside along with our next door neighbour and our neighbour from across the road,” Segal said.

Segal further said, “We had two GoodSAM first responders arrive shortly after to assist. The community first responder along with several ambulances, police and the critical care team arrived to take over attempts to save her life and were successful in getting her on life support in the ambulance.”

The caregiver was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where doctors at the neurosciences critical care unit discovered she had suffered a severe brain haemorrhage.

Segal and Ezenyili’s manager from Harlow-based Care at Hand Ltd, Elisha Newberry, went to the hospital with Friday to support him.

In his narration, Segal’s husband, Saul said, “Sadly, life support was turned off two days later, on February 24, and she passed with her husband by her side.”

But Segal said, “Suzy came here as a carer to fill a need in our community. She was qualified in law in Nigeria and was planning to attain her qualifications to practise law here after her sponsorship as a carer finished.

“She was a really good carer. Kind, considerate and always willing to help no matter what the circumstances.

“Her dream was for her daughter, Mandy, to attend school in the UK and to make a new life here where she would have the opportunities that Suzy and Friday never had growing up in Nigeria.”

Vanguard