‘My fiance ditched me because I’m epileptic’ (1)

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Eucheria’s story is very emotional.  Reason is that the infirmity which made Anthony her fiance ditch her wasn’t her fault. She was born with it, and that made Dora her mother very sad because she saw Lovett her own mother (Eucheria’s grand mother)  battle epilepsy until she died.

When she (Eucheria) was born, her first epileptic attack happened when she was barely six months. “My mother thought it was mere convulsion. She ran to her bottle of palm kernel oil and applied it into my  eyes. She was restless until after a while, the attack stopped and I came round.  But according to her, when the attack reoccurred after two months, she rushed me to the hospital and it was there that she was told I was epileptic. She was devastated. There on the spot she remembered her late mother Lovett who battled epilepsy until she died.

“When I started growing up, I started feeling inferior in the midst of my school friends because I had several epileptic attacks in school. One afternoon when I came home from school depressed, I told my mother how sad and inferior I used to feel in school because of my infirmity. She sat me down and recounted her own mother’s  experience. My grand mother too used to feel that way. She said she was an elementary school teacher who was fondly called Mama Chalk by school pupils because she loved to teach them. She told me what she went through in life in the hands of epilepsy and that she was always thanking God that she didn’t give it to her (my mother). She said some of the things her mother went through, that she witnessed it. And that it really pained her watching her mother at times being thrown on the floor because of epilepsy and how she wriggled. At times, she would soil her panties with urine and excreta. She said the very incident she would never forget in a hurry was the one that happened when she was frying Garri one Saturday afternoon.  She suddenly had an epileptic attack, and she fell very close to the open fire she was using to fry Garri.  And that if not for the intervention of relatives in the same compound, she would have sustained severe injury. All these my mother told me and I felt depressed the more,” she said.

When Eucheria was in the university, she still battled with same shame her late granny battled with. “I was being disgraced the very day that was supposed to be my happiest. That was the day I was doing my matriculation. I was donning my best dress and my mother came alone without friends nor relatives  to share my joy because her dream was that her daughter would be a university graduate. So, she came to see me matriculate. Then my father was already late, poor dad would have loved to come too but because of death, he couldn’t. So, that day I was wearing my matriculation gown on my dress looking radiant. My mother too was glowing. I was looking at her from where she was seated in a cinder and I was admiring her, remembering the number of times she had prayed for me, I felt happier that one of her prayers for me had been answered.

“Immediately, I stepped out of the matriculation arena to take some shots with my loving mother, I lost control of myself. Within a split of second, I was on the floor wriggling. My course mates already knew what was happening to me because it had happened many times in the class, right in their presence. My mother, according to her ran to me and begged for spoon from some food vendors which she placed in between my teeth so that I wouldn’t mistakenly bite off my tongue. The ugly game lasted for five minutes before I regained consciousness. When I came round, I had dirtied my dress and all attention was on me. When I stood up, I couldn’t hold back tears, same with my mum. We walked to where the cab man who brought her parked his cab and there we seated in the cab and she consoled me. But I asked her questions she couldn’t answer. I asked her what offence I committed that made this kind of shame came upon me.”

“No my daughter, you didn’t commit any offence. None that I know of. Your question has just reminded me of your late grand mother. My own mother. She was always asking me what offence she committed. I remember when she was about to die, she looked at me in the eyes and said she would not reincarnate into my own family because she wouldn’t want any of my children to have epilepsy. Poor Mama had always believed in reincarnation. She said, if my daughter should have it, then I should know she was the one that came but that she would never come close to my abode,” she said, in an emotion laden voice.

She paused for a while and continued still sounding very depressed, as if she was seeing the spirit of her late mother. “So, what happened now Mama? You finally came in the life of my daughter Eucheria carrying the same shame and infirmity? Ehn? It would never be well for the Devil,” she said, and then turned to her daughter.

“Omalicha m (my beautiful one) dry your tears and let’s eat. I brought you some food I prepared specially for today. Let’s leave this cab and walk back to the arena and continue with our merry making. Remember we are yet to take some shots. Let’s go, your dress is not that dirty,” she said, as they both walked back.

To be continued.