This Girl’s Mother Abandoned Her When She Saw Her Head. You Won’t Believe What Later Happened To Her

In 2014, Nika was abandoned by her mother as a newborn because of her unusual head shape. Although this was an extremely tragic situation, what happened later to this orphan girl was an unbelievable blessing.

Heidi is sadly known for high levels of violence, which many children are exposed to. Children are often recruited, kidnapped, injured, or killed by armed gangs. Dozens of people, including women and children, have been killed in rampant violence among rival gangs in Haiti. Without humanitarian aid, many of them would not survive.

It was in light of this desperate situation that Sarah Kunk, a bright-eyed 27-year-old woman, left her life of relative comfort in Louisiana, USA, and moved to Haiti in 2013. She felt a calling to advocate for children with disabilities in a country plagued by political turmoil and poor social conditions.

The calling for Sarah started while she was still busy with grad school studies, studying to become a certified therapeutic recreation specialist. When the opportunity arose to work as a missionary at Danita’s Pediatric Medical Center, it was an easy decision to take on the job. Here, she would get the opportunity to work with hundreds of disabled and less fortunate children.

In January 2014, something happened that changed the course of Sarah’s life, although she did not realize it at that very moment. A young woman entered the doors of the medical center, holding something tightly wrapped in a blanket in her arms. It was as if she was trying to hide something from the world. On closer inspection, when Sarah lifted the blankets, she saw a three-month-old baby girl with some extraordinary facial features. On top of that, the baby was severely malnourished.

The little girl was named Nika and had an unusually large head. Sarah immediately recognized the symptoms of hydroencephaly, a condition caused by a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, causing the head to swell to an abnormal size that is completely out of proportion to the rest of the body.

She also realized that the malnourishment wasn’t caused by the medical condition but could be attributed to severe neglect. It was clear that this girl needed immediate medical care.

Sarah engaged in a conversation with the mother, trying to determine the best course of action. To her shock, she found out that the woman was more concerned about the social stigma attached to being a parent of a disabled child than taking care of her daughter’s needs. Different cultures deal with issues in different ways.

In Haiti, it was not uncommon for people to attribute the cause of disabilities to being cursed. People would often stay clear of the parents of a disabled child, as they believed that merely touching that individual could also afflict them.

The stigma that the birth of this girl brought on her mother made her do everything possible to escape the ridicule and shame. This meant she had done everything in her power to hide her away from staring eyes.

Although the mother did not abandon her daughter physically right after birth, at that moment, she had abandoned her emotionally. She had closed off her heart to her own flesh and blood, and when she had to take her out in public, she would hide her away in a blanket.

Sarah immediately invited the young mother to join the recreation therapy classes twice a week. She was a compassionate woman and understood that the responsibility of taking care of such a special child was most probably too overwhelming for the mother. She encouraged her to make use of the resources available to her and emphasized the importance of keeping her baby in her care. Sarah also helped to secure all the resources necessary for this huge responsibility.

In the meantime, she made sure that Nika got medical treatment and was largely responsible for arranging the life-saving surgery that would drain some of the fluid from the little girl’s brain. But when the time came for Nika’s surgery, her mother didn’t show up at the hospital and stopped coming to their weekly meetings.

This tragic turn of events occurred about eight months after Sarah had started working with the pair. The doctors believed that Nika had succumbed to her illness during the night and that the mother hadn’t bothered telling them.

But Sarah had a strange feeling that something else was going on in that poor baby’s life. The young nurse rushed to the address she had on file for the family, hoping to find the little girl still alive. Her heart was beating in her chest with anticipation as she drove. What she discovered that morning was nothing short of shocking.

The moment that Sarah entered the house, she was horrified. Little Nika was alive but in horrific conditions. The baby had been left completely alone inside the house, lying on a rice sack. All around her were piles of garbage. The living space was unsanitary and cold. If Sarah hadn’t turned up that day, many horrific things could have happened to this helpless infant.

At 11 months, Nika weighed a mere six pounds or 2.7 kilograms, of which the buildup of fluids accounted for a large proportion thereof. Her tiny little body barely clung to life. It is sometimes extremely challenging to perform missionary work, as you have to take into account the cultural circumstances that lead people to make certain decisions and act on the consequences without prejudice and judgment.

Sarah found out that Nika’s mother was a prostitute who, after finding out she was expecting, had drunk some poison in an attempt to terminate the pregnancy. Although Sarah wanted to take Nika with force that day, she had to follow the right steps and the correct legal procedures to ensure that the baby could get the proper care she deserved and desperately needed.

Sarah rushed to the hospital, holding the helpless girl close to her chest. She ran inside, crying out for help, and the doctors were shocked to see the state that little Nika was in. Medical specialists examined the girl and told Sarah that she should not get too attached to her because she would surely die soon.

Her internal organs were beginning to shut down. Only then did she realize how severely neglected and malnourished this precious little girl truly was. Doctors only gave Nika a one percent chance of survival, but Sarah clung to this frail lifeline with all her might.

A new chapter started in the lives of both Nika and Sarah. This baby girl from Haiti earned the title of “little warrior” Nika, as she had to fight with all that was inside of her to survive the next six months—a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Sarah was hopeful one moment and desperate whenever medical problems arose, but she did not leave her side.

Her biological mother, on the other hand, relinquished all her parental rights and never went to the hospital to visit her baby. Sarah knew life was hard enough for that woman and didn’t resent her for leaving her own daughter in the hands of strangers. Also, because it allowed her to oversee Nika’s development up close.

Against all expectations, Nika continued to become stronger, and she defied all odds. Finally, in February 2015, something incredible happened to this little girl. Sarah, the incredible and vibrant young woman who had signed up for 24/7 care of this abandoned baby, was finally appointed as her legal guardian. She vowed to dedicate herself to caring for this precious girl for the rest of her life.

This could look like the end of this incredible story, but there are still some incredible things in store for Nika and Sarah’s future. Not only did Sarah pour out all her love on this baby girl, but her partner, Stefan, also became a caring father figure to her. Together, Sarah and Stefan took numerous steps to improve Nika’s quality of life.

One of the procedures the little girl went through was neurosurgery, where a VP shunt was implanted in her cranium, decreasing the circumference of her head by nearly 2 inches or 5 centimeters and decreasing the fluid weight of the head by 5 pounds or 2.2 kilograms, which is exactly what she weighed at 11 months.

Two years after Sarah had rescued Nika from certain death, she continued to defy the odds. Through physical therapy, she learned to stand on her own two legs and hold up her own weight, something doctors said she would never be able to do with almost half of her brain missing. She was supposed to die, and yet Nika survived, thanks to the loving commitment of a woman named Sarah Kunk.

Her parents continue to celebrate every little milestone she achieves and will always be by her side to help and support her every step of the way.

Would you have considered adopting a severely disabled child, let alone from another country? How would you feel knowing that your baby will have a difficult life forever? Share your thoughts in the comments below.