‘As a mother, you don’t think twice’

The bubbly child fondly remembered for her viral ‘Ndele ohai filidja’(I’m freezing) video, Hulda Gideon, has been given a second chance at life after a successful bone marrow transplant in Cape Town, South Africa.

When no suitable donor could be found for Hulda (9), her mother, Ngozi Onyeneke (32) stepped up to become a successful match.

Windhoek-based Onyeneke donated her own stem cells for Hulda’s bone marrow transplant, which was successfully performed on 18 February.

“We travelled to Cape Town at the end of January. They were able to do the transplant on 18 February. I was the donor because we couldn’t get an unrelated donor,” she says.

Hulda, who captured national attention in 2023 with her cheerful video, is battling acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

After relapsing last year, doctors recommended a bone marrow transplant, but finding a match proved difficult.

“It’s a bit more complicated when it’s a parent donating. That’s why they mostly require an unrelated donor. But unfortunately, we couldn’t find one for her,” Onyeneke says.

Despite the added risks associated with parental donation, she did not hesitate.

The donation process began five days before the transplant, when Onyeneke received daily injections of a medication called Nuprogen to stimulate her bone marrow to produce stem cells at a higher rate.

“But the side effects were terrible back pain, bone pain, headaches and a loss of appetite,” she says.

On the day of the procedure, doctors inserted a line into a large vein in Onyeneke’s groin to extract blood, separate the stem cells through a machine, and return the remaining blood to her body – a process that lasted an entire day.

“You don’t move. You are on that bed the whole day,” she says.

While the procedure itself was manageable, Onyeneke describes the removal of the line as the most painful part.

“I was told it’s not supposed to be painful. But somehow mine was a bit painful,” she says.

Within days, she had physically recovered. Emotionally, however, she says the moment was overwhelming.

“I was quite emotional. I won’t lie. I shed tears. Our trip to Cape Town was postponed twice last year. So I was glad that it was being done,” she says.

The transplant was performed on Hulda’s birthday, a coincidence the family now sees as symbolic.

“She has two birthdays now in a year. The 18th will be the day when she got a chance to a healthy life again,” Onyeneke says.

Hulda is currently recovering in hospital. Her immune system remains severely compromised, and doctors are monitoring her closely for infections and possible complications, including graft-versus-host disease.

“Her immune system is really low. Mostly it’s infections. But we are hopeful,” Onyeneke says.

The family is expected to stay in Cape Town for about three months after Hulda’s discharge for weekly monitoring before returning home.

For Onyeneke, the decision to donate was never in question.

“As a mother, you don’t think twice,” she says.

“You just do what you have to do to save your child.”

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