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Touching Story Of How Christian Kirk Ato Howard Suddenly Became A Nursing Father

Touching Story Of How Christian Kirk Ato Howard Suddenly Became A Nursing Father

Not all heroes wear capes. This is the story of Christian Kirk Ato Howard, a brother, turned hero and dad.

It was a normal day in December for Christian who was preparing to write his final paper as a Level 200 student at Methodist University.

Little did he know that his world was about to take a turn for the worse and in the process become a father, to his beautiful niece, whom he didn’t even know existed in her mother’s womb, Kuulpeeps.com.

The 30-year-old single man was preparing to write an exam on Introduction to Micro Economics when he received a phone call with a surprising message from his mother.

The news was that his little sister, Jacobell Stella Ewurama Howard was at the Winneba hospital and had given birth to a preterm baby girl and that someone was needed to help with hospital runs, the usual get this medicine, secure this quantity of blood and so on.

The challenge rapidly became a nightmare for the young student who had no clue that his little sister was even pregnant. After his paper, he quickly traveled back to Winneba to be there for his sister, or so he thought.

At the time, the baby needed to be placed in an incubator but the Trauma and Specialist Hospital did not have an incubator so the baby had to be transferred to Ridge Hospital in Accra. Christian took on the responsibility to transfer the baby to Accra.

Prior to leaving Winneba Hospital to the Ridge Hospital with his niece, his sister asked that the baby be named Aseda (a Fante word which means ‘thanks’ in the English Language).

Christian successfully secured an incubator for his niece in Accra but had to rush back to Winneba because doctors attending to his sister informed him that she was in a critical condition and needed to be referred to Korle Bu Hospital.

Christian, while at the hospital faced a lot of challenges, as his sister’s health deteriorated. At some point, Jacobell was unable to express milk for Aseda.

“I tried to suck the breast milk myself. I tried but nothing came out,” Christian told Kuulpeeps.com in an interview.

After his unsuccessful attempt at expressing the breast milk himself, Christian had to direct the doctors at Ridge Hospital to give Aseda formula.

Shortly after, an ambulance was available to transport his sister to Korle Bu Hospital. Sadly, Jacobell was pronounced dead on reaching the hospital. Dead at 26 years old, with a prematurely born daughter in an incubator and the baby daddy refusing to take responsibility for the pregnancy.

At that moment, Christian decided to refocus his energy to do whatever he could for Aseda. Ridge Hospital became his new home. He frequently performed the kangaroo mother care so that Aseda would get the bodily contact she needed.

Kangaroo mother care is a method of care for preterm infants (infants born prematurely). The method involves infants being carried, usually by the mother, with skin-to-skin contact.

Christian and his niece would spend a month in the hospital until she weighed 1.4 kg before they were discharged. At the time, Christian’s mother was not in the capacity to care for an infant, his other two senior brothers were also not available.

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Christian then made the decision to take Aseda to his house, and not be just an uncle but Aseda’s father or at least play the role as effectively as he could.

Then came another hero, Gifty, Christian’s girlfriend. Gifty also volunteered to share parental duties with Christian. The two of them becoming Aseda’s guardian angels.

READ ALSO: Selfless! Hero Husband Sacrificed Himself To Save Beloved Wife From Flood

Besides studying for his Purchasing and Supply Chain programme at Methodist University, Christian also works at the Maritime Hospital in Tema, as a result, he runs a care duty shift system with Gifty.

Before his mother called while he was preparing to write his exam back in December 2019, little did Christian know that by January 2020, he would have lost his dear sister and become a de facto father for his preterm niece.

Wow such caring brother!

Photo credit: Christian Kirk Ato Howard

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