The Ezeanos with surviving quadruplets
This
is the type of story that will stir up your faith in God and reawaken your
belief in love. Nothing short of a miracle is the story of this family, the
Ezeonos – a family bound by tragedy, betrayal, blessings and happiness. This is
their story as encapsulated beautifully by Tony Ogaga Erhariefe of The SUN.
The
story begins from the year 2010 when the Ezeonos were returning from the
village… Enjoy the excerpts below:
Three
months earlier…
At St. John Catholic Church, Igando, the
Ezeonos’ are the poster family. Blessed with two kids and relatively
successful, they belonged to most of the societies and never hesitated to make
monetary donations whenever an opportunity sprang up.
So, three months earlier, when the parish
priest summoned Ezeono to a meeting prior to the family’s departure for the
village, he probably thought it was church business as usual!
“I thought the priest wanted to discuss parish
issues but what he asked me was, ‘must you travel this December?’ I told him it
was important, but if God says no, who am I to travel?” Ezeono recalled.
However, justifying reasons why he had to
travel, he explained to his parish priest that in the immediate past month he
had been elected General Chairman of his village meeting and his first
assignment was to organise a dinner so they could raise funds for pressing
projects, and the dinner was slated for the Christmas season when most sons and
daughters of Akpo would come home. Also, his age grade group, Ofuobi, was
marking its 20th anniversary and he was chairman of the organizing and planning
committee.
“I had too many projects for that December, so
I told the Rev Fr, ‘this is what is taking us to the village.’ And he replied,
‘somebody said he had a dream about your family and that people from the church
were coming to commiserate with you and you were not crying.’
“So, I said, ‘father, this is a dream. You can
pray for me.’ Father said he had started praying and he gave us prayers to
say.”
Warning
However, something strange happened on the
Saturday preceding their journey to the village. Ezeono had a dramatic fall
that shocked him out of his wits!
“We had attended morning mass as usual. The
floor was obviously slippery and as I stepped out of the door I slipped and
fell. It was so dramatic! Within a couple of seconds, a crowd had gathered
around me. I was so shaken and embarrassed!
“It was my son, Chude, who lifted me up. I
related it to the dream Rev Fr had revealed to me earlier. So, we kept praying
and thought that it was all over.”
January 7, 2010
The journey from the village that morning of
January 7 had been without any incident. Mrs. Ezeono was looking forward to
resuming her job as a school teacher in Lagos, while her husband was looking
forward to returning to his business after achieving so much in the village
and, of course, Chudi was dreaming of his masters in the UK.
As they hit Agbor, home was just a few hours
away. Little did they know what was in store, stalking and waiting to pounce.
And as they cruised on the ever busy highway en route Umunede, hell finally let
loose on them!
The scene that followed could be described as
one from a James Bond thriller. The only difference was that the ‘actors’ were
real!
Though, the whole thing did not last longer
than 20 seconds, it left a trail of what the late Afro-beat legend, Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti, would describe as ‘sorrow, tears and blood’.
For some strange reason, a policeman dashed
across the road and began waving at them frantically, forcing the vehicle in
front of Mr. Ezeono’s SUV to screech to a halt. Ezeono only had a few seconds
to decide whether to ram into it and probably kill everyone on board the SUV,
or to swerve off the road. He chose the latter, believing he could pull it off!
However, as he stepped on his brakes to begin
the hair-raising maneouvre, his back tyre busted and he lost control of the
wheels as the SUV swerved and somersaulted, rolling over four times before
coming to rest (belly up) in the bush!
Valley of the shadow of death
Thanks to seat belts; they could have been
flung out of the windows like the others, but Ezeono and his wife were trapped
in the front seats of the mangled vehicle. Luckily, passers-by and fellow road
users came to their rescue. While the others with Chudi were soon found and
rescued with minor injuries, Chudi was nowhere to be found!
However,
a search party soon found him seriously injured, but there was no vehicle to
quickly convey him to the hospital.
“Everybody fell out. It was only my wife and I
that were left in the car, because we were wearing seat belts. After they
rescued us, I expected they would take us to the hospital because my boy was
bleeding. I kept shouting for someone to help me with a car, but nobody
responded. By the time policemen went to do a U-turn and rushed us to the
hospital, he had started foaming in the mouth and ears.
“In my time, I have rescued more than five
accident victims, who were bleeding after ghastly accidents, and they all
survived,” Ezeono’s baritone voice reverberated, bouncing off the walls with a
soft painful ring, “now I was watching my own son as he was bleeding. I was
scared he was going to die. I kept shouting and shouting for people to please
help me with a vehicle so I could convey him to hospital, but all they kept
saying was, ‘baba, no worry, nothing go do your pikin.’”
Hospital,
at last
As they approached Agbor General Hospital, Mr.
Ezeono obviously became hopeful; at last, Chudi would be treated. However, in
shock Ezeono listened as the doctor on duty explained that there was nothing he
could do because the hospital had neither drugs nor equipment to handle
accident emergencies!
“But, I think he could have done something if
they had oxygen, but that hospital had nothing! It was sad because it is
strategically located. A lot of accidents happen on that road, so it should
have been equipped to handle such emergencies,” lamented Ezeono.
Consequently, he was forced to watch
helplessly as life slowly ebbed out of his only son and heir apparent. He
cradled his dying son in his arms and wept, praying, hoping for a miracle, but
Alas! The shining star of the family, Chudi, soon breathed his last and gave up
the ghost.
Double
wahala
Losing a 22-year-old son is traumatic, but
what happens when that son is an only heir around whom you have built your life
around? Ezeono was distraught, his wife was inconsolable.
“He was a promising boy,” he said, pausing for
a while. The room was so silent you could hear a pin drop. “He was to resume
for his masters at London Metropolitan University on January 26 and he died on
January 7 in my arms. I was in total shock!
“I informed the doctors that I was
hypertensive. They took measurements and were alarmed with the results and
instantly recommended drugs. I had to part with N3,000 to purchase drugs and
bandages because the hospital had neither.”
Mother
in sorrow
“I do not know where the grace and strength to
pull through came from. I won’t call it courage because I have never been a
courageous person; it was only God’s grace. My husband held him in his arms as
he bled to death,” Mrs. Ezeono said, recounting her agony as she watched her
only son die.
“I sustained serious injury. Everything around
me was spinning. They had to bring me down from the hospital bed and lay me on
the ground. It was so numbing. For a long while after the accident I kept
asking my husband, ‘where is Chudi?’ I was in denial; I just couldn’t believe
he was dead! We tried to cry, but tears wouldn’t come. I tried to sing mournful
songs, but only praises would come out of my mouth.
“I clung unto my rosary. I consoled myself by
asking, ‘what did Our Lady do the day Jesus Christ died?’ I told myself that,
at least, God still left a daughter for me, but Our Lady had nobody and that
was why Jesus handed her over to St. John. I took consolation from that. I
said, ‘God, you have been so nice to me. If this is a little test, give me the
grace not to fail.”
Goodbye,
Chudi
A couple of weeks later, family, friends and
well-wishers came together to bid Chudi goodbye. Indeed, it was a tearful
ceremony. Sons and daughters wept, while fathers and mothers reminisced on
Chudi’s person. A dark cloud had descended; St. John Catholic Church, Igando,
was in mourning.
Chudi was a kid who loved Gospel music, rather
than sing mournful dirges, the parents had given strict instructions that
nobody was to cry or sing mournful songs. And so
his funeral turned out to be a praise worship ceremony!
However, as the days rolled by, the memories
continued to haunt the family and they began to ask questions. How could God
allow such a misfortune befall them? How could God abandon them? Why?
In public they refused to cry and kept up a
courageous front by being cheerful. However, when the Ezeonos’ got back home every
night, they collapsed into each other’s arms and wept.
Money
rituals
If the Ezeonos thought with the burial of
their son their challenges were over, they were wrong! They were still battling
to come to terms with the sudden passage of the star of the family when
something fresh began to happen.
It began with just a small discussion about
what Ezeono described as ‘mischief makers’, but spread like wildfire, and
within a couple of days, rumour began flying around that the elder Ezeono had
used his only child for money rituals!
While this was going on, Ezeono went about his
business as usual in the church oblivious of the ‘wicked’ rumours around him.
It was weeks later that he finally got wind of it, and when he did, he went
berserk!
“I was so angry. How could people be so
destructive and malicious? I was going about the church doing my own bit.
Little did I know that people were saying all kinds of terrible things about
me! Mischief makers originated the story and they started spreading it. They
said I had used my son, my only son, for money rituals!
“I heard the parish priest was even aware and
I was disappointed, because I felt he should have asked or informed me. I
confronted him and he admitted hearing the rumour, but said he asked the lady
who whispered the wicked rumour to him to get out of his car immediately she
told him!
“Wouldn’t it be stupid if I killed my only son
to make money?” Ezeono queries rhetorically, “who will I keep the money for?
Who will inherit the money? Probably, I killed him to dash them (rumour
mongers) my wealth.
“As you can see, I have just a boy and a girl.
How could I kill my only boy after training him to university level? How could
I use my heir apparent for money rituals? That tells you how unreasonable
people can be.
…And
more trials
Meanwhile, in the village, a new problem was
brewing. Mrs. Ezeono disclosed that her husband’s relatives and friends had
surreptitiously approached him, offering him another wife because, as they put
it, ‘your wife is too old to bear children.’ They argued that because of his
achievements and role in his family, he needed a worthy male heir to carry on
the family’s name.
“We were still in the village after Chudi’s
burial when people started calling. They told my husband not to worry about me
because I was already too old to have babies. They said they would get him an
under-16 girl that would deliver beautiful boys for him. All he had to do was
rent an apartment for her.
“When my husband rebuffed them because of his
Christian beliefs, some said, ‘listen, I am also a knight in the church. Don’t
you know that your position in the family is important? We love your wife, but
what can you do? She is old. You can rent or buy a house for a small girl and
keep her there and your wife wouldn’t be the wiser, while she makes baby boys
for you. Are you the only one who is a Christian?”
Juju
alternative
She disclosed that virtually everything under
the sun was suggested to her husband, including using juju to reclaim his ‘lost
possessions’.
“Another set said, ‘come, we will take you to
a herbalist that would help you. Everything you have lost would be restored to
you. The shocking thing was that some of these men were knights in the church!
And that’s the reason I can’t stop thanking my husband for standing by me! I
wanted to replace our lost son. I was 50 already, way beyond child-bearing age.
What was I to do?
“People were sending me all kinds of nasty
text messages and I took them to the Blessed Sacrament and said, ‘Daddy, you
can see, people are already calling You names, so Daddy, protect your name. I
have no name to protect. I told you on that day, ‘wake this boy up or else
people are going to call you names.’ Now, see the names they are calling You.
They are saying that I have used Your son for money rituals.’ We felt so bad by
the betrayal and decided to withdraw from church activities.”
Turning
point
However, it was during this period that the
Sacred Heart Society whose membership comprised staunch believers, held an
event.
“Somehow, my husband and I found ourselves
there again when the society anchored an event; a fund raiser. Members were
called to come put and pick an item and tell God whatever they wanted and it
shall be granted to them. So, my husband went, donated a sum and picked an
apple after which he picked a piece of paper and on it was written, Luke 18
Verse 27, which says: ‘That which is impossible for man is possible for God, I
will restore you.’ We came back and used it as our prayer point and prayed over
it.”
Later, while cleaning the store of her home,
she saw a picture of Jesus Christ with five children around him. In excitement
she dusted it up and placed it in the living room next to the Sacred Heart
altar and joked with her husband that the children with Jesus in the picture
are the kids God had promised her
Each time we prayed I told my husband, ‘look
at our kids. God is going to give us five children.’ The kids in the picture
were so lovely I kept praying that God should give me such beautiful children.”
Baby,
and more babies
Faced with the vacuum created by Chudi’s exit,
the family considered adoption. After extensive debate, they resorted to
fertility treatment. However, they were advised that because of her age she did
not stand a chance, but they remained resolute and determined. Eventually, a
miracle happened. At the age of 51, a year after the tragedy, in a move that
baffled her doctors, Mrs. Ezeono got pregnant, 22 years after she had her last
baby!
Mr. Ezeono captured the joy of the moment
thus: “The doctor that treated her said it was the miracle of the millennium.
Nobody gave her a chance! We were overwhelmed with joy. After the first scan,
they said it was only one child and we were told to come back a week later.
When we went back, they did another scan and said there were twins, with
instructions to come back a week later.
“A week later we were back and they said they
were triplets! They said we should go and come back in a week’s time, and when
we did, they said it was quadruplets! However, they said they could hear a fifth
heartbeat. They could be five! A week later we did another scan and it was
confirmed that my wife had five babies growing in her womb!
“Five babies?” Ezeono asks rhetorically, as a
smile plays on his features. “We couldn’t believe this was happening! At best,
we were hoping for a child. With luck and a lot of prayers, twins, but five
babies were beyond our wildest imagination!”
Reduce
or die
However, their joy was threatened! The doctors
disclosed that because of age, Mrs. Ezeono wouldn’t be able to bring the
pregnancy to term. The only way forward was to abort three of the fetuses!
“We were still rejoicing at the hospital when
we noticed that the doctors were wearing long faces. We had expected they would
be rejoicing and congratulating us, but the reverse was the case and I started
wondering, ‘what was wrong?’”
Mrs. Ezeono continued: “They said, ‘madam, it
is five. At this age you can’t make it. You may lose all the babies and even
lose your own life! The only way you can make it is to go through reduction.
You have to terminate three fetuses!’”
Act of
faith
The news hit the couple like a ton of bricks,
shattering their dreams. But moved by a firm belief that whatever God has
started, the same He would bring to a happy ending, Mr. Ezeono queried the
doctors: “Which one would you terminate? Did you put them there? Are you going
to terminate the reverend father or the reverend sister? Are you going to
terminate the doctor, governor or president? The doctors were looking at me;
they couldn’t give me an answer. My wife told them point blank, ‘I am not going
to terminate anyone of my babies. We are Catholics; we don’t believe in
abortion.’
“So, eventually, we were told that we should
come and get referral letter to go and reduce. They warned that I would lose
all the babies if I didn’t reduce. They showed us the size of my uterus and
explained that because of my age, the children would slowly die because I would
not be able to supply them enough oxygen.
“They insisted that if per chance I survived,
the babies were going to be born deformed and die. They put so much pressure on
us, but we kept reminding them that we were Catholics. They even argued that
the Pope would grant us a dispensation, so we said ‘okay, we are going to think
about it.’”
“They made an appointment that we should go to
India for reduction. They warned that if the pregnancy exceeded 12 weeks, it
couldn’t be done again and that would put me in mortal danger, so we purposely
stayed away until it was 14 weeks.
“We came back home and went before the altar
and called on Jesus: ‘is it true that anything you start you complete? The
doctors marvelled when I conceived and declared it ‘the miracle of the
millennium,’ so why is this happening? What type of malformed and deformed
miracle is this?”
Mrs. Ezeono said her next ante-natal was at
Marian Shrine, Maryland, where she spent her entire birthday, praying and
beseeching God for a miracle.
“I knew the strength to carry the babies were
not mine but our Lady’s. I only begged her that while I would be the one people
would see carrying the pregnancy; she would be the one that would actually
carry it. Sometimes, when it rained, I would lay in the pool of water, open my
belly and cry unto Mother Mary, ‘there is nothing one would sincerely request
from the Trinity that will not be granted.”
Fears
of a husband
Despite the faith they displayed, Ezeono still
had his fears: “My fears were mostly for my wife’s health. If anything happened
to her, I would be sad for the rest of my life. People would blame me and say,
‘what was he looking for after 23 years.’”
India,
at last
Finally, it dawned on the doctors that the
Ezeonos were not interested in reduction and were determined to put God to the
test, and so they gave up. However, they recommended a hospital in India where
they believed that if ever it was possible, the babies could be hopefully
delivered.
The Ezeonos departed Nigeria on February 21,
2011. The plan had been for Mr. Ezeono to be by her side until she stabilizes
and then he would return to Nigeria to face his business. However, he abandoned
his business and remained by her side, praying, fasting and visiting the
Blessed Sacrament.
Miracle
Finally, against all odds, the children were
delivered at Bombay Hospital, Mumbai, on May 3. Though they were born at 32
weeks, miraculously they were all in good shape. At age 52, Mrs. Ezeono was
delivered of five healthy babies; two boys and three girls!
A mum’s
joy at 52
“If you were in my shoes,” Mrs. Ezeono asks,
“what would you do?” Tears of joy streamed down her cheeks as she speaks. “Up
till now, it is still like a dream. My husband was by me all the way. They came
out of incubator and they asked us to go. The calculation was that they will
spend one month in the incubator, but they spent only two weeks. So, when we
got to the hotel room, we couldn’t believe it! We were counting them and
dancing.”
So popular was the story of the 52-year-old
Nigerian woman who gave birth to quintuplets, the hospital became a tourist
site as people came from far and wide to witness firsthand the miracle and the
parish priest and the community gave them a lot of gifts, including a bust of
Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
In gratitude to her husband, Mrs. Ezeono says:
“My husband was everything to me; my stomach was so big he cleaned me up, fed
me and washed me. When the babies came, I was so tired I couldn’t feed them,
but he would put the breasts in their mouths.”
How
does it feel having five kids at the age of 52?
“My dear, from the names we gave to these children
you should know my strength came from nowhere but God. The first child is a
boy, so we gave him our late son’s name, Chukwudi Ebere Emeka. The second boy’s
name was Onyelukachukwu, which means who performs like God, but he later died.
He was followed by Rosary, because the Rosary was our only weapon. It was in
India that they came to appreciate my Thank You Jesus rosary. Next was Azanam,
and finally Nnechukwu.”
Like in tradition, the Ezeonos received a lot
of gifts on their return to Nigeria. But the one that made the greatest impact
was the quantity of diapers they got. It was so much they had to clear a whole
room to store them and it was more than 12 months after that they had need to
purchase diapers.
A year
after
Today, the four surviving kids are waxing
stronger and the Ezeonos are amazed at their growth.
“These kids are healthy. None of them is
physically or mentally challenged. I never cease to be amazed at what they do.
When we wanted to introduce them to cereals, we bought Cerelac, but none of
them accepted it. They were contented with akamu, so the cost of feeding was
slashed.
“Now they eat ewedu, spinach, semovita and
noodles. I have three nannies plus my mother. My husband has an office; I don’t
know when last he was there,” says Mrs. Ezeono, as the couple laughed joyfully.
