THEY MAKE LIFE FEEL WHOLE AGAIN

The pain of losing her family in an accident will never go away, but Karen has rediscovered love – and she’s a mom again too

- CYRIL BLACKBURN

DON’T let the twins’ cheery chuckles fool you – that cooing cuteness can turn into an ear-piercing wail in a flash, their mom says.

But each time Karen Swanepoel (45) hears the word “Mommy” it makes the drama and hecticness of having a pair of busy toddlers all worth it.

“Isn’t it the most beautiful word ever?” she says. “It melts my heart every time.”

The two-year-olds are her greatest blessing, she says. They’re her miracle babies after years of heartache and part of a wonderful new chapter in her life.

Nine years ago, life as she knew it was shattered when her family was obliterated in a catastrophic car crash on the N1 between Ventersburg and Winburg.

She was the only survivor – her husband, Schalk, died along with her children, Jeanelle (5) and Juan (2).

For years she longed to hold a baby in her arms again, to feel the soft, warm weight of the little body against hers.

“It was so hard being a mom at heart but having no children to shower with love.”

Then, five years ago, her life changed: she found new love with André Swanepoel (49) and they got married.

But it was a long time before she felt ready to welcome more children in her life. “For six years, all the love I’d once given to my kids crashed like waves on dry land,” she says.

She’ll always miss her first family, she says, and the pain of that loss will never go away. But her heart is full of joy and her life has felt whole again since Reynard and Desiré arrived.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t look at them in amazement. I thought that I’d run out of chances, that I’d never experience that kind of joy again,” she says.