I Am Woman Leap of Faith

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Since she was a little girl local beauty queen Esme De Andrade, one of eight children from Atlantis on the outskirts of Cape Town, wanted to make her mark in the world. After finishing school she left her humble family home and began her working life with big dreams for her future. When she met her husband Manuel these dreams included having children.

So began a journey of fortitude and courage that had not featured in Esme’s life plan. Esme struggled to fall pregnant and she and Manuel went through six rounds of fertility treatment and a miscarriage before their first son Matthew was born. It was physically emotionally the toughest thing she had ever endured – debilitating her at every level. And then, after Matthew’s birth, what was meant to be a joyous celebration of new life and motherhood turned into her worst nightmare.

Esme was struck with crippling post partum depression, struggling to cope with the very thing she had wanted most in the world. She was at times suicidal, often confused, but mostly numb. Eventually she sought help at a local clinic where she bravely learnt to cope and eventually bond with her child.

But something deep within Esme kept pulling at her. Coming from a large and loving family and understanding the rich value of a full family life, she decided that Matthew would never, ever, be an only child. Despite her ordeal and warnings that the post partum depression could reoccur, despite her husbands feeling that he did not want her to go though it all again, she eventually convinced him and they decided to try for a second child.

Esme, and her husband, went through six more rounds of fertility treatment until, at last, she fell pregnant and carried her second son Nathan to term.

This remarkable story of determination and spirit will leave you deeply moved. Join us as Esme welcomes us into her home and courageously shares her story with the world for the first time.

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