In the early hours of Sunday, June, the 14th, the gorgeous Mrs Ibidunni Ituah-Ighodalo, a former Beauty Queen, foremost Events Manager, Business Woman, and beloved wife of Pastor Ituah-Ighodalo, passed on. At about 2.00am, she died in a hotel room in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, of alleged Cardiac arrest. She had been there, as she was contracted to equip and make beautiful Isolation Centres for COVID-19 victims in Rivers and Bayelsa States.
In her lifetime, she founded and ran an NGO – Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation with the sole aim of helping childless women find joy and peace, by sponsoring their IVF procedure, a procedue that failed her nine times.
What pushed her was her personal experience with childlessness, and how she eventually found succour and peace of mind.
She told her story of pains and later inner peace and joy before her death. Following, her words, in an article she entitled: My World And Pains.
My name is Ibidunni Ighodalo, founder of the Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation.
“Like any newly married couple, my husband, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, and I looked forward to starting our family and holding our children in our arms.
“You can imagine our dismay when, after getting married in 2007, we watched the years roll by without a child of our own.
“After several doctors’ appointments, we were told that we wouldn’t have children unless we sought treatment through assisted reproduction.
“This was the doctor’s report we received, but we choose to believe God’s own report, unshaken in our faith as we firmly believe that we will have our children.
“This period of delay, also, came with pressure and a lot of insensitivity from people to our situation.
“I, also, had to deal with the emotions, pain and the roller-coaster hormonal imbalance that comes with all sorts of treatments .
“Thankfully, I am married to an amazing man who has been there for me through all the procedures; unflinching in his support.
“Along the journey, I have met women who only needed one round of a treatment I had done nine times.
“The only thing holding them back was either the lack of finance or the psychological support needed to get through it.
“It was at that point I decided to stop thinking about myself and start trusting God to help these couples fulfill their dreams of having their children.
“On the morning of my last birthday, I thought about not having had children long and hard while praying. There and then, I made a covenant with God and told Him that I would leave it completely in His hands. In the interim, as we wait for our miracle, I would help couples going through the same challenges by providing spiritual, financial and psychological support. I was ready to do my part to get rid of the stigma attached to childlessness.
“I wanted people to, instead, see couples-in-waiting as blessed mothers and fathers of nations! Upon thinking about the weight of this dream, I started out feeling a little reluctant, especially, when I thought about the privacy we might lose.
“However, when I thought about the unending joy it would bring to people’s lives, it seemed to me that it would be worth the sacrifice.
“I made up my mind to stop worrying over child-bearing and to just keep trusting God while helping other couples through their own fertility journey.
“As I prayed and mulled over the idea, I felt peace and that was how the IBIDUNNI IGHODALO FOUNDATION was born!
“As part of our plans to raise awareness on issues pertaining to fertility and bring hope and joy to many homes, we have partnered with a number of fertility clinics with high success rates that are willing to help with discounted costs for treatment.
“We also have partner organizations that help subsidize other medical bills while raising awareness about fertility issues alongside.
“Parenthood is a reality that should not be denied to every couple that desires it.”
Mrs Ibidunni Ituah-Ighodalo passed, aged 40, without a biological child. But was a devoted lovely mother of two children.
