Nairobi Mum Shattered as Form 2 Daughter Dies Days after Admission: "Alikuwa Firstborn"
- Questions, grief, and pain dominate the mind and heart of a mother following the demise of her beloved daughter
- She still struggles to come to terms with the untimely death of her child, whom she described as her best friend
- Speaking to TUKO.co.ke, the mother of three recalled the deep and emotional conversations she had with her late daughter before her passing
Parents should never have to bury their children, especially when they haven’t fulfilled their potential.
Source: UGC
Yet, that is the painful reality facing Caroline Wambui Njuguna, a mother from Nairobi county.
Wambui is experiencing unimaginable grief after losing one of her young daughters, Emelda Wairimu, who passed away nearly a week after being admitted to the hospital.
"She passed away on Wednesday, July 30, at 7.30pm. She had been admitted to the Texas Cancer Centre and was suffering from rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), a rare type of cancer that develops from muscle tissue. It most commonly affects children and young adults, according to Mayo Clinic," Wambui explained.
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Emelda had been battling the illness since July 2023. It began as a lump on her ear and eventually spread, affecting the left side of her face, including her eye. Despite the pain, she remained strong and sat her KCPE exams with a lot of help, scoring 279 marks and joining high school. She was in Form Two at the time of her death.
Emelda's back-and-forth relationship with her dad
Wambui shared two moments that particularly stood out to her during her daughter’s illness, moments that captured Emelda’s strength and resolve.
She painfully remembered how her husband walked away from the family at their greatest time of need, shortly after Emelda fell ill.
"Emelda resented her father for abandoning us. However, later, he came back, asking for forgiveness and to be welcomed home. I never wanted him back, but Emelda softened my heart, and we welcomed him. Sadly, his stay was short-lived. He walked out on us again, abandoning the very daughter who had shown him compassion. When she was in hospice, neither he nor any relatives from his side visited her,” Wambui recounted.
One day, while still in hospice, Emelda took her mother’s phone and called her father.
Where will Emelda be buried?
She told him she no longer wanted anything to do with him or his family because of how they had turned their backs on her.
Emelda made a personal request to her mother before her passing, one she kept just between the two of them.
“She told me her true father was my father, her grandfather. And her real mother was my grandmother. She had disowned her biological father,” Wambui shared.
In December, they travelled to their village in Murang’a. Emelda brought a cake for her grandparents to honour the bond she felt with them and to reinforce her final wish, to be buried in Murang’a, not at her biological father’s home.
Wambui's last moment with Emelda
On the day she died, Emelda gave her mum her rosary and asked her to keep it. Though Wambui was full of questions, she held on to the moment.
“She was on oxygen that evening, struggling to breathe. I remember touching her feet, they were cold. I thought it was because she had taken off her socks, so I put them back on. But when I looked at her hands, they looked pale, like they were turning white. I rushed to call the doctors.
"When they came in, they didn’t stay long. As one of them walked out, I rushed in, full of questions. That’s when they told me… my precious girl had rested. My best friend was no more,” she recalled, breaking down in tears.
Source: UGC
Moi Girls High School student dies
In a separate story, a Moi Girls High School, Eldoret student, Harriet Myles Awuor, who sat for her 2024 KCSE exams in hospital, passed away shortly after receiving her results.
Despite her condition, Harriet scored an incredible A plain. In recognition of her inspiring performance, she was awarded KSh 100,000 by her school.
Sadly, she passed away just weeks later, leaving her family and the school in mourning.
Proofreading by Mercy Nyambura, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
