➢ My name is Julian Peter a Kenyan and at the age of 17 I visited the doctor for a checkup since I had aching feet and so the normal questions during consultation started. When was your last period? And my answer was I haven’t seen my periods, and that was the beginning of a long journey to living with this ghost for life. I remember the doctor saying that they need to do a check up on my vagina to see if I was ok, and so they did a physical checkup only to find out that I didn’t have the vagina. The doctor then recommended that I go for a scan to see if my reproductive system was formed.

➢ My first scan showed that my reproductive system was formed and that my vagina was closed from the outside and so I went for a minor surgery to open the vaginal canal. I went to theatre and had surgery and after three days I went for another scan which revealed that there was no vaginal opening, uterus, cervix and I had one kidney. In disbelief the doctor ordered for another scan that confirmed the second scan’s results. But the doctor still recommended I do an MRI and this confirmed that I had MRKH.

➢ After my diagnosis the doctor said there is nothing that can be done and I was in shock and disbelief, I cried for few days but the again life had to continue and so I went back to school and continued with my education. I still hoped it was just but a dream and it will soon dawn that I was a normal lady and so I kept hope alive.

➢ After my high school education I had to do my research to be able to understand what I really had since the doctor said I had murelian agenesis and that’s when I found the name MRKH and started learning about my condition and acceptance journey started. During this time I thought I was all alone in the unfair world but fortunately 4 years later I saw Joaneva {a Kenyan lady with MRKH} talking about the condition and I knew I wasn’t alone and so I searched for her and I was connected to many other ladies with MRKH. It was really amazing meeting my sisters.

➢ When I met my MRKH sisters I was able to share without any judgments from them since they understood me and what I was going through. They shared their love, and years later I was able to undergo constructive surgery to create a vaginal canal which I had prepared for both physically and emotionally since it’s a process and can be emotionally draining.

➢ Having MRKH has taught me to appreciate the smallest of things in life and I have been able to accept that I will never carry my own baby. Family may never understand how it feels to have MRKH but my mum can only understand how it feels to have a daughter with MRKH. Some extended family members and friends feel that am shaming them by going public and the feel that I should stop talking about it but it’s all my decision to make people understand there is such a condition and we shouldn’t be treated differently. We should have access to medical care without feeling humiliate about having MRKH. We shouldn’t feel less of women just because we can’t have kids. We need to feel good enough about ourselves; we need to be happy without anything getting in the way.

➢ People will always feel that you aren’t good enough, you are not worth it but the right people will come your way at the right time. Suitors will leave but the right one will surely come. We only live once enjoy it when you can because you only have yourself to make you happy don’t just give up, rest if you must but just don’t give up.

MRKH, the ghost of my life