In an earlier article about Samara Funmilayo, her parents never thought a life-long neurological condition like Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (SBH) would come the way of their daughter and first child.
That was pretty much the same expectation of Mr Oluwaseun Adesina, a realtor, and Mrs Christiana Adesina, a hair stylist, when their first child and daughter, Opeyemi, was born on November 14, 2011.
Born through Cesarean Section (CS) at Ifako Ijaiye General Hospital in Ogba, Lagos, Opeyemi’s Spina Bifida was detected from birth, but Mr Adesina did not know what the condition was all about and what was to come in the future.
“I was called by a doctor to his office that faithful day. My baby Opeyemi was carried by a nurse, and the doctor showed me her two legs were folding together, and at her back, there was something big, like an abdomen at the lower side of her back,” he began.
“It was detected immediately at birth, and from what the doctor told me in his office, he said that it can be corrected, that I will need to follow the ambulance that will take the baby to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) to correct those errors. He however never told me what we would face with her condition in the future.
“My wife was still unconscious from her CS surgery, and her mother’s senior sister said I should go with baby Opeyemi to LUTH while my wife remains at Ifako Ijaiye General Hospital till she is discharged and comes and meets us at LUTH.”
Mrs Adesina, narrating her experience of events, thought Opeyemi’s condition was a spiritual attack, something commonly believed in many parts of Nigeria and Africa after someone is diagnosed with a life-long medical condition, while the doctors told her the surgery procedure for her daughter would be 50-50, making her even more fearful.
“I went to LUTH to join my baby and my husband. Getting there, I saw the condition of my baby for the first time,” she explained.
“I even thought it was an enemy attack or the hand of the devil, because I have never come across or seen anything of such before in my life.
“I remember when the operation was about to commence, the doctor said the chance of success was 50-50, that the baby might survive or die. This added more sorrow to my heart and made me fear the situation.
“My baby was kept in a general ward while I was in a private ward close to the general ward. It was not an easy experience as we spent 26 days in the hospital.
“My husband was sleeping on a carton on the floor of the hospital corridor, sometimes at the staircase side, because hospital management did not allow anyone to hang around the premises at night for security reasons. He had to deal with very cold weather and constant mosquito bites.”
She continued: “Before the operation was to be done on the baby to correct her back, we were told the baby would need a pint of blood, but I could not donate because I had just done a CS operation, while her father’s blood group did not match hers.
“We contacted some people who used to come and donate blood in exchange for money, and one man agreed to come, but to our surprise, he did not collect a dime from us. To the glory of God Almighty, the operation was done when the baby was a week old, and it was successful.
“When we were discharged on the 26th day, the doctor said we should come back to the clinic after a year for a checkup. We went, and the doctor said Opeyemi was a miracle baby because her head was normal and stable, that she did not need any operation on her head because she did not have Hydrocephalus.”
Hydrocephalus is the excess build-up of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain and is a common complication of Spina Bifida. Spina Bifida, meanwhile, is a congenital neurological condition in which a baby’s spine and spinal cord fail to develop properly while still in the very early stages of pregnancy and can lead to partial or total paralysis of the legs as well as the inability to control bladder and bowel movement.
Despite this reality, the reaction from the extended Adesina family was one of support and love, which people living with the condition will need for the rest of their lives. Although there was disbelief at the very beginning, as no one in the family had a history of the condition or any disability, they all came to acceptance.
“To be honest, it has not been easy at all as a family with Opeyemi. Before she could sit down on her own as a baby, she was over a year old. Crawling was another challenge for her. For everything a baby does, in her own case, it was very slow,” Mr Adesina added.
“It took more time before she could achieve what other children achieved at a normal age. Her sister, Moyinoluwa, and brother, Samuel, understand what is going on, they have been her helping hand. In our family, there is no discrimination. Everyone understands that Opeyemi is a little bit different from us, and she needs help.”
Every parent wants to see the day their child takes their first step. It was however difficult for Opeyemi because of her condition. Her parents were advised by someone to take her to a traditional medicine practitioner when she was four years old to help straighten her leg. They did this without proper knowledge of their child’s condition and just wanted to see her be able to stand on her feet and walk, with the fear that things might get worse as she gets older. They believed that if the leg was straightened, Opeyemi would be able to stand and walk.
The experience with the traditional doctor was not a pleasant one, as Mr Adesina noted, pointing out that Opeyemi’s leg started swelling after four months of treatment and had to discontinue with the doctor after he requested an additional ₦50,000 after depositing ₦150,000 out of a requested ₦200,000 from this traditional medicine practitioner.
Opeyemi was also taken to the private clinic in Agege a year later when she turned five and had a calliper fixed to help straighten her leg, but the experience was equally seen as a waste of time and money, as it did not yield any desirable result for the family.
Mr Adesina also narrated the exhausting and emotionally demanding 14-month period between April 2021 and June 2022, when Opeyemi, then almost 10 years old, and constantly visited the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, in Lagos. This however turned out to be the game-changer in Opeyemi’s ability to stand and to walk.
“Opeyemi’s journey to Igbobi started when someone close to her former school proprietress told us that we can actually correct and straighten her leg, and we should do that before she clocks 10 years, as her bones are still soft and tender,” he stated.
“I took the advice seriously because Opeyemi had never walked by herself for the first 10 years of her life. It was either me or her mother who used to carry her to school and to other places we went to.
“I took her picture to Igbobi to inquire about her leg. I was told to bring her in person, which I did some days later, and the treatment commenced.
“We were given two options to either do surgery on her leg or physiotherapy. The doctor however advised not to do surgery due to some complications that could arise in the future. He advised us to consider physiotherapy, and we went for it.
“During each appointment at the clinic, POP (Plaster of Paris) casting was done on her leg, which went for a long time till the last day we were told she needed a shoe to keep the leg shape intact till the bones were healed and strong.
“During that process of correcting her legs at Igbobi, we spent 14 months in and out. For her treatment during the 14 months, we spent over ₦2 million. It was not a smooth journey, but I thank God Almighty for everything.”
The 14-month journey at Igbobi was indeed an experience that took its toll on the Adesina family. They were up as early as 3:00 AM in the morning, including Opeyemi’s siblings, for school, while her parents had to be out of the house by 5:00 AM so as to get to Igbobi on time.
This schedule had a significant impact on Mrs Adesina’s hair styling business, while Opeyemi’s siblings had to get accustomed to waking up at a time when a growing child should still be fast asleep in bed. It also took a hit on Mr Adesina’s finances as he had to empty his bank account and source funds to ensure there were no setbacks with the treatment.
In all this, the Adesinas did not complain but rather saw Opeyemi’s time at Igbobi as a sacrifice that was needed for her health and well-being. Today, Opeyemi can move around the house on her own with the aid of a walker.
The bond between a person with disability and their sibling is a very dynamic one, and Opeyemi, with her 10-year-old sister, Moyinoluwa, and seven-year-old brother, Samuel, is no different, as Mrs Adesina explained: “Opeyemi’s relationship with her siblings is cordial. Though from the beginning it was chaos, because they were looking at her why she was different from them.
“We used to tell them that it is God who made her that way, and there is nothing anyone can do about it, and later they both came around to be her guide. They always help her in everything she does.
“Sometimes she used to drag some chores with them that she could do, because they do not let her do anything. They love each other very much now as they are growing up day by day.”
Soon to be 14 years old, Opeyemi still faces a lot of challenges such as being unable to interact physically with friends and neighbours due to her inability to walk freely, incontinence which requires the constant use of expensive diapers, the rejection of enrolling her in an inclusive school due to her condition, and the huge financial cost of caring for her which has impacted the family.
“To be honest, from her birth till present has been one challenge after the other. The challenge of not being able to play around with other kids who see her differently,” Mr Adesina asserted.
“The challenge of not being able to control her urine and poo is also a major challenge for her and the entire family. We did not know that in time she would not do all these things like a regular child.
“So, it is a great issue for us and for her. Someone who will be 14 years old very soon is still using diapers. It is a great challenge and a sad one at the same time because it affects her education.
“Most schools were rejecting her when we wanted to enrol her in a primary school, and she was late to achieve most things other children do in time. She was through with her primary education three years ago, but we have not been able to enrol her in any secondary school as they are not ready to accept her.
“The financial aspect of it, too, is a big challenge to us parents. To take care of Opeyemi requires a lot of money, so we are having a lot of challenges in that aspect.”
Despite all these challenges and setbacks, Opeyemi’s parents have not given up on her, nor has she given up on herself because of her condition with Spina Bifida. It has seen her achieve some incredible milestones. Despite not being able to attend school physically for the past three years, Opeyemi has constantly shown a high level of intelligence via home schooling with a personal lesson teacher and also e-learning online.
Opeyemi also has excellent vocational skills, such as hair making, which she learnt from her mum. She is also good at drawing objects and can make fashionable hand beads. She can also knit and weave nice-looking bags, purses and pouches. This is a demonstration of fine motor skills, which is a challenge for many children living with Spina Bifida.
Mrs Adesina revealed that Opeyemi is a strong person of faith. In spite of her young age, she loves to engage in prayers and is seen as the prayer warrior in their home as she leads prayers for the family every night before going to bed.
Opeyemi desires to make fashion accessories on a commercial scale when she becomes an adult, while she hopes to go to the university and study medicine to become a doctor and treat people who have Spina Bifida like her. Her parents are fully in support of her dream, seeing it as her purpose in life, by God, which must be fulfilled.
A lot of parents in Nigeria and beyond are still struggling to come to terms with accepting their child living with Spina Bifida for fear of the future. Some have neglected medical advice and gone for spiritual or traditional methods, which have only complicated matters and the condition of the child. Thankfully, the Adesinas did not go through this route and sought medical advice and combined it with their faith, which has helped Opeyemi stay resilient and active despite her numerous challenges.
On May 25 this year, at a church service, the Adesinas came in contact with Adebowale Adedayo, a famous content creator and actor popularly known as Mr Macaroni, and also Adebolu Adejobi, a young adult proudly living with Cerebral Palsy and a Biomedical Engineering student.
The service was held in celebration of Children’s Day, and the pastor of the church wanted Opeyemi to meet Adebolu to be inspired by his incredible journey living with Cerebral Palsy, a neurological condition that affects muscle tone, movement, posture, among other functions due to brain damage.
On hearing about Opeyemi’s condition, Adebolu reached out to Hydrocephalus Stories for a follow-up. The family were then directed to Festus Fajemilo Foundation (FFF), the pioneer Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that advocates for persons living with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (SBH) in Nigeria. They also came in touch with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Association in Nigeria (SBHAN), the umbrella body representing the interests and concerns of persons living with SBH in Nigeria.
Through these two organisations, the Adesinas have been able to get better orientation and care for Opeyemi on things such as free continence management training, which has greatly helped in her confidence and independence. It has also empowered Mr and Mrs Adesina to advocate and raise awareness about Spina Bifida, having been actively involved in the awareness walk organised by FFF and SBHAN in collaboration with the International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus (IFSBH) and Neuro Kids to mark World Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Day (WSBH) Day 2025.
Mr Adesina had this message for parents still having difficulty accepting their child with Spina Bifida: “To any parent out there with a child living with any form of disability, especially a child with Spina Bifida, I want them to know they are not alone. Yes, it is a difficult task to take care of someone with disability, not to mention one living with Spina Bifida.
“However, with God Almighty, everything will be okay, and I pray for everyone with a child living with any form of disability, that God will heal all our wounds. Amen.”
Meanwhile, Mrs Adesina had this to say: “My advice to any parents who has a child with any form of disability, especially with Spina Bifida, is that they should accept the child the way they are because it is God who created everyone.
“Though I know it is not easy to take care of them, parents should create time for them, take care of them and love them genuinely, and I believe everything will be okay with these children.”
It has been an incredible journey for the Adesina family raising their first child and daughter, Opeyemi. What they saw at her birth with the Spina Bifida diagnosis is considered an unpleasant experience that had them in panic mode.
They are however now joyful seeing how she has grown into a beautiful girl in her teenage years, full of life and dreaming big. It has made her parents move past all the pain they went through more than a decade ago, and they are confident that the future is bright for her.
It is delightful that her parents have a positive mindset in their approach to things and have never discarded medical advice to make their daughter’s life better while combining it with their faith. Their journey is still a long one, but knowing that Opeyemi has no limits to what she can achieve, they are ready to go every step of the way to make her reach her dreams. This is worthy of emulation and should inspire other parents to do likewise.
Mr Adesina can be reached via:
Facebook: Adesina Oluwaseun
Instagram: Adesina Oluwaseun
X: ADESH Realtors & Properties
WhatsApp: +234 806 315 7364
Mrs Adesina can be reached via:
Facebook: Adesina Christiana Omolara
Instagram: Adesina Christiana Omolara
WhatsApp: +234 809 214 7737
Opeyemi can be followed on:
Facebook: Opeyemi Pretty (Fiyinfoluwa)
“With God all things are possible! Yes, it wasn’t a smooth journey from the beginning, but with time it will all end in praise”
Pls, let’s all stop discriminating of each other, especially with people leaving with any form of disabilities. We are all human being and God made everyone in his own image according to his words.
Peace 🕊️ be on to you all.
I have known the adesinas for over 10 years, I admire the courage of Mr adesina and his wife, I also commend the courage of opeyemi which has not made her condition limit her abilities….I am certain she will achieve her dreams.
We still need more education on special children and special education in Nigeria. She’s a warrior and i am sure she will break even more barriers. To all special warriors, we love and admire your grit.