Baby Mienke’s mom remains in hospital after suffering
cardiac arrest on Friday.
Verna Mulder (26) was visiting Mienke in hospital at the
time. Her husband, Ryno, told YOU the family was going through a difficult
time.
“This morning (Monday) I had to drive to Nelspruit
(Mbombela) for work. I didn’t want to go but I had no choice. I’d like to be
with my family,” said Ryno, who plans to return later today to Gauteng where Mienke
and Verna are in hospital.
Mienke was admitted a week ago to be treated with botox
injections for spams in her hands and feet. Her legs were put in casts first to
curb the spasms in her feet but the casts were removed again when she wouldn’t
stop crying.
She’s had a brain scan and alternative ways of feeding her are
also being investigated. The tot is unable to keep down her food and not
gaining weight.
Ryno says Verna is conscious but not feeling well. “I don’t
know whether it was a heart attack but her heart had stopped for some time,” he
said. According to him, Verna was fitted with a pacemaker two years ago.
“She has a condition which causes her heart rate to go down
whenever her blood sugar level drops. I don’t know if that’s what causes her heart
to stop.”
On Friday afternoon Ryno learnt that the two women in his
life were now both in hospital.
Later he made this moving post on Mienke’s Facebook page,
Please Pray for Mienke: “Walking into the intensive high care unit tonight, a
million thoughts are going through my mind, my body reminds me very clearly of
25 August 2017, the day when the original accident (when Mienke choked on her
milk) happened.
"Instantly I understand why my Vernsie’s heart has
stopped, I’m experiencing what she must be feeling today. Verna has been
admitted to one ward, Mienke is down the passage in another ward, I come to a
dead halt in the passage, and I sit down on the spot, and Verna’s heart has
stopped and she’s in the same hospital as Mienke now.”
"Verna this man needs you much more than you can know,
letting go on you is definitely not on my to-do list – never ever. Get better
my darling, I genuinely had a shock that scattered the stars. You must rest,
you’re just human, you have to get some rest."
Marietjie Myburgh, a friend of the Mulders, added on the
same Facebook page that she found Ryno amazing as he was still managing to
shower his two other daughters, Leané
(4) en Zamoné (2), with love at such a difficult time.
“Today I was looking at Verna and not understanding how she
manages to find time to juggle between everything and gosh, I thought maybe
it’s us making her tired.
“We’re so quick to call her a superwoman, a brave mom, a
strong woman, a pillar of strength and I have no argument at all with any of
this. Verna is one awesome woman and mommy to her kids, but she’s vulnerable,
she has sadness in her heart about Mienks, she’s no superwoman but rather, like
many of us, just a mom for her three girls and just Ryno’s wife.
“Maybe we should give her a chance again to be Verna,” she
wrote.
