Even before she became a mother, one of the hobbies 31-year-old Tracy enjoyed most was swimming. The water was where she felt unburdened, and as she imagined motherhood, she carried with her a dream of passing that joy on to her child. She hoped that one day, she would spend time with her little one floating and splashing endlessly, forming core memories.

But obstetric fistula interrupted that dream in ways she could never have anticipated.

After delivering her daughter in 2023, Tracy noticed that she had no control over her stool. At first, she assumed it was part of normal postpartum recovery, one of those uncomfortable but temporary changes that often follow childbirth. When the symptoms persisted beyond the first two months, she still chose to be patient with her body, giving herself grace through what felt like a physically demanding recovery period that also included back pain and food sensitivities.

Two years passed, and while most of those postpartum symptoms gradually resolved, the stool incontinence did not. It was only then that concern began to set in as she started to consider the possibility that what she was experiencing might not be temporary after all.

The idea that it could be obstetric fistula never immediately occurred to her. She knew about the condition in passing, but always associated it with women in rural or underserved communities, imagining it as something distant from her own reality as someone who had grown up in Nairobi with exposure to information and healthcare awareness. Yet obstetric fistula does not follow assumptions or boundaries; it can affect anyone whose childbirth is complicated by injury, regardless of background. By the time Tracy began to understand that something more serious might be happening, her life had already started to shrink in ways that were difficult to reverse.

The first loss came in her career. After an embarrassing incident of incontinence at the office, she made the painful decision to leave her job as a forestry specialist, eventually finding work supporting her sister in a small catering business instead. While the change allowed her some flexibility, it also marked a significant step away from the professional life and financial independence she had once worked so hard to build.

Then came the burden of hypervigilance. Tracy became intensely aware of her body at all times, constantly checking and cleaning herself frequently for the fear of an accident. She became so conscious of herself that even eating became something she began to restrict, worried about how her body might respond.

And then, perhaps most painfully, came the shift in her motherhood.

With her world increasingly confined to the safety of her home, many of the experiences she had once imagined sharing with her daughter began to feel out of reach. Swimming was no longer possible. Long trips to visit family in the countryside were out of the question. Even simple joys like running around, playing freely, or spending long, carefree days outside were now replaced by caution.

For a long time, Tracy resigned herself to this version of life, focusing only on being as present a mother as she could manage within the boundaries her condition had imposed. Then, in May 2026, everything shifted again.

While scrolling through WhatsApp statuses, she came across a post shared by a friend about an upcoming medical camp at Kenyatta National Hospital, organized by the Flying Doctors Society of Africa with funding from MPESA Foundation. It was a moment of chance that carried weight; without that simple post, she might never have known that help was within reach. Without hesitation, Tracy made her way to the hospital for screening.

It was there that she finally received clarity. What she had been living with was not simply postpartum complications or isolated incontinence, it was obstetric fistula, a condition that she received medical intervention to repair.

Today, Tracy looks toward a future that feels open again. She dreams of returning to the water and finally swimming with her daughter, of rebuilding her career and stepping back into work with confidence, of eating out without fear, staying out without worry, and reclaiming the spontaneity that once defined her life. The world is, once again, her oyster.