Ibidunni Ighodalo Brings Succour To ‘Parents-In-Waiting’

With the first Parent-in-Waiting Conference, Ibidunni and Ituah Ighodalo have taken practical steps to bring hope to a suffering community of infertile couples. Nseobong Okon-Ekong and Vanessa Obioha report

The tension was palpable.

For more than 50 couples in the Agip Recital Hall of the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, this was another defining moment. It offered a new chance to hang their hope in a balance; swinging back and forth. The first Parent-in-Waiting Conference organised by the Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation (IIF) had reached its apogee. It was time to reveal the 2017 recipients of the Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation grant.

As the Founder and Senior Pastor of the Kingsway International Christian Centre, Matthew Ashimolowo, mounted the stage, eerie silence enveloped the hall. The chatter and clapping which accompanied his introduction had died. All eyes were on him. All ears primed to what he had to say.

For this year, about 381 applications were received by the foundation out of which 100 were screened. Fifty passed the scrutiny of the medical team, but the foundation could only afford to sponsor 10. Even though she set out to help one couple at a time, Ibidunni Ituah-Ighodalo, the compassionate woman who established the endowment, is always heart-broken to learn that there are many candidates who cannot be accommodated in her funding. At least over N1.3 million is needed to sponsor IVF and other methods of assisted reproductive procedures for one couple.

Expectation for greater successes in 2017 soared as the conference entered a different level of appreciation.

In 2016, when the foundation kicked-off, it partnered with certified fertility clinics in Nigeria to provide fertility services to 28 couples. Success stories from the first batch include 15 successful treatment, five confirmed pregnancies and one successful delivery. A beneficiary of her grant, Bodunrin and Lola Oye, recently welcomed a set of twins, the first by the foundation!

In addition to the stigma of waiting for their own children, many of these couples are already sagging under the financial pressure of visiting doctors, hoping against hope that the next appointment might just result in the lucky break or long expected miracle.

As Ashimolowo started to read the names randomly, sighs of relief and despair filled the hall. Caught in the excitement of the moment, a few husbands went ahead of their wives, although it was the woman’s name that was called. Some walked up the stage, knelt down and raised their hands in appreciation to God.

Not a few wiped a stream of tears rolling down their face.

Three persons who were chosen but did not show up, were replaced after their names were called repeatedly. To support the good cause, Ashimolowo announced he would sponsor two. The number was raised to 12. Shouts of joy filled the hall as Mr. Tonye Cole of Sahara Group offered to finance treatment for two other couples. Ashimolowo was moved again to add another couple. At the end of the day, 15 couples were given access to the IIF grant. Ashimolowo encouraged other couples who didn’t make the list and prayed for those who did that their testimonies will be complete.

The Parents-in-Waiting conference was conceived to raise awareness on issues pertaining to infertility and to provide grants for couples that require fertility treatments such as In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Intrauterine Insemination. The foundation partners with highly reputable fertility clinics in Nigeria and with other donors to provide couples with the financial and material support they require during the treatments. IIF also provides the necessary psychological and spiritual support required to deal with the pressures they face along the journey to conception.

IIF is the brainchild of Ibidunni, former beauty queen and wife of accountant and founder of the Trinity House, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo.

Her quest for a child has been painstaking, leading her to explore all the legal options available. Almost every step she took towards her goal was met with annoying hindrance. In a moment of weakness and frustration, she considered suicide. She thought if she could not have a child, there was nothing worth living for. After all, several doctors had foreclosed the possibility of her having a child unless it came through assisted reproduction. She has been waiting for the fruit of the womb for over a decade.

Eleven IVF treatments after, she only conceived once. Sadly, she lost the baby. Although, she told her story in a recorded audio-visual broadcast, it was no less gripping. As the scenes shifted from her to other parents-in-waiting whose harrowing narratives of searching for a child were also pre-recorded.

Instead of wallowing in self-pity, she decided to become a ‘wounded healer’ as Ashimolowo described her. Last year, she launched her foundation and kicked off the grant to help couples overcome the financial, spiritual and psychological trauma of waiting for a child.

Apart from Essien’s refreshing course on sex, the audience was entertained by a series of monologues presented by a seven-member cast that dramatised the trauma faced by couples suffering from infertility. The theatre production broadened the enlightenment on infertility. At the end of the day, even if the play was all the IIF could present, the characterisation and acting conveyed strong messages on the subject of infertility.

The conference must go down as one of the few talkshops that held the attention of a large percentage of the audience for close to six hours. The hall was still packed when Pastor Ituah said the closing prayers.

Culled from ThisDay Newspaper