The Zika virus is linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that results in babies with small heads and developmental issues. Haneefa De Clercq is the mother of two adults who were born with that condition.
De Clercq was born and raised in the small country of Malawai. She got pregnant four times by the age of 29 years old. Her first child was a healthy baby girl named Tanya who now lives in New York, but her second pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage. She suspects, though doctors did not confirm his, that the miscarriage may have been a result of microcephaly, a condition that both her next two kids were born with.
"There are two types of people in this world or maybe three," said De Clercq. "There's the one that'll look at my kids and think it's so funny. The second type are the ones that don't know where to look. They see my kids and it's like, "Oh my God," crossing the road, avoiding us like someone with leprosy. And then you get the third category that I love with all my heart that come to me and say, "What happened? Why are they like this?" And my smile is even wider because someone wants to know my story."
De Clercq's two youngest children, Andrea and Robbie, attend a special needs school in Miami, though doctors initially gave Andrea only four months to live.
She's now 37 years old, and her brother, Robbie, is 33 years old. Though Andrea's mind is that of a 3-year-old, and her brother's that of a 7-year-old, De Clercq says they dazzle her every day. De Clercq believes they both have a photographic memory. Andrea excels at computers and technology, while Robbie takes to the arts. His paintings hang throughout De Clercq's home.
"I never expected that I could give them an instruction and that they would follow that instruction and do it properly," De Clercq admits. "I see the love between them and it gives me tears of joy."
She's hopeful as more cases of microcephaly are identified, more research will be done to find a way to fight it, though De Clercq has another message as well, a message for all those to be mothers that are now infected with the Zika virus.
"That's what I want those mothers to know, that it's not the end of the world because you have these kids. They will teach them so much. They'll teach them how to love, they will teach them patience. Everything is in God's time, and if we have the patience to go through that, the rewards are so much greater, and my kids are the greatest gift. They're the greatest gift God has ever given me."
Source :http://www.wpbf.com/
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