GONE TOO SOON

Raising a child with special needs is not an easy feat. Losing a child is even worse. Christine Mutola talks about her son Barrack who had cerebral palsy and the foundation she has established in his name.

- Vivian Maina

Christine and her husband, Bernard Museka, dated for seven years before she discovered that she was pregnant.

‘This was in 2008 and I was in South Africa at the time. I immediately called Benard and my mom.’

The excitement of being a new mom went to her head. She had so many plans for her new child and she did not care if the baby was a boy or a girl. ‘I shopped, opened a bank account and got into that place where we were just ready to settle down and embrace our baby.’

Everything was great up to the point where Christine was eight months pregnant.

‘I started experiencing abdominal pains and headaches and one day I noticed that I was spotting. I decided to go for a check-up and to my surprise, the medics told me that the baby’s head had dropped and he was coming.’

She gave birth to a premature baby and it was the first indication that things were not right. The second was that her son did not cry immediately after birth. Being a first-time mom, Christine did not even notice it. Following the birth, it was two weeks of torture for the couple as the newborn who had jaundice was incubated and treated.

‘Seeing other moms with their babies while mine was incubated broke my heart. Other moms were getting discharged a day after giving birth! To date, I still have no idea why I gave birth prematurely.’

Barrack was discharged eventually and nine months later, he had still had not achieved certain milestones that were expected at his age.

‘Barrack could not hold his head up, he could not walk as his legs were weak and he also couldn’t sit on his own.’

During this time, Christine received all manner of advice, the craziest being that they consult a witch doctor which she ignored because of her strong faith and belief in God.