Nigeria, Sept. 21 -- Emily Spell heard the screams from outside her parents' red brick home.

She found her brother, Joseph Williams, 31, splayed on a mattress in the basement. His eyes, half open, were yellow. His lips were blue. His wife, Kristina, was pounding on his chest.

"Joe, wake up! Joe, wake up!" Kristina hollered.

Spell, a nursing student, started CPR. Each time she pressed down on his chest, white foam spluttered from Joe's mouth and onto his favorite Batman pajamas.

Joe's mother, who'd raced home from work at Piggly Wiggly, a regional grocery store in Garland, North Carolina, tore into the room. She lay down beside her only son.

"It's OK, baby, you can go ahead and sleep," Susan Williams said. "Do you want a cigarette? Ar...