RUSTENBURG HERALD - RUSTENBURG - The day of 14 January 2017 would be life changing for the Esterhuizen family - even if they didn’t know it yet.
At the time, the Esterhuizen family, and especially mom of three, Bianca, was yearning for a little girl to add to their family of five. Bianca and her husband, Gerhardt were proud parents of three sprightly young boys, who had filled their house with love and laughter. However, as Bianca explains, her longing for a blue-eyed, blonde little girl would not subside. “In 2009 I had fallen pregnant for the third time and at 13 weeks we were overjoyed to find out that it was a girl.” After giving birth to two boys, the Esterhuizen house would finally be complete with the pitter-patter of a little girl’s feet.
This, was, unfortunately, not meant to be as Bianca suffered a miscarriage at 16 weeks. Broken, she cried to heaven, asking God what she had done wrong. “Little did I know that God had a plan for me that I couldn’t see yet.”
In 2010, Bianca fell pregnant again and their third son was born in 2011. “He was extremely ill and had to spend time in ICU. He almost passed away.”
Under her doctor’s advise-ment, Bianca had to make peace with not carrying another baby to term - as it could cause her life. With this, her heart’s yearning for a little princess had to be tucked away.
In February 2017, Bianca started work with a private employer who had opened her home as a foster parent, and in her care - a little girl who had been born on 14 January 2017. Her name was Mieke...
She was set to change the course of the Esterhuizen’s lives forever.
Bianca was heartbroken by Mieke’s fate and agonised over how a little girl could end up so hurt, so early in her life.
“I was head over heels in love with this little person and seven years after my miscarriage, I was finally able to understand my rocky journey. “God knew that this little girl would need a mommy who would love her unconditionally, a mommy who would hug her and tell her that everything would work out.”
As such, the Esterhuizens made a decision to adopt Mieke.
They were faced with questions, pushback and even extreme doubt from family and friends, worried that they would suffer more hurt, but they stood fast in their decision.
Now, as Mieke is a gorgeous, blonde, little blue-eyed girl in Grade 1, with rosy cheeks to boot, it’s hard to imagine her as a frail toddler in a hospital bed with a heart condition. Sadly, this turned out to be the state of affairs.
At age two, giving her a bath one night, her parents were shocked when she suddenly collapsed in the tub and they had to rush her off to hospital. Soon, she was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat and had to have a pacemaker fitted at the age of five.
She has been formally diagnosed with Tachy-Brady and Sick Sinus Syndrome, which requires multiple follow-up visits with pediatric cardiologists in Cape Town - a journey Mom, Dad and Mieke has to undertake every few months, to monitor her condition.
“I have at times, been asked if I would have made a different choice knowing everything I know now,” concludes mom Bianca. “I would choose my little heart warrior over and over again...”
As it turns out, even though Mieke has an irregular heartbeat, the heartbeats of her mom, dad and three brothers are indeed very regular - and steadfast, and true, and filled with love.
* Read more about “Swing for a Cause” - the golf day in aid of Mieke’s health care costs, on page 19.
