Busi Beko is from Transkei in South Africa. She is the mother of two children - the youngest, a girl, is now two years old. Busi describes how she was diagnosed with both TB and HIV during pregnancy and the ordeal of discovering that her new baby too was infected with drug-resistant TB.
I was pregnant of my second child. I was sweating a lot at night, having chest pains and feeling feverish. I went to the clinic. They tested me for HIV and I was so shocked when they came back with the result saying I was HIV positive. The sweat was developing and the pain on the chest was growing. They said I must go back to the clinic again so that I get tested for TB.
Because I didn't have sputum, I signed the consent form so that I could do the X-ray even though I was pregnant. I was getting worse, getting thin and very weak. So they did the X-ray and they said I had TB.
The doctor said that I must take out my baby because I had HIV and TB, I was very weak and I wouldn't be able to make it. I didn't want to do it. So I decided to go to Khayelitsha. There I started the ARV treatment. I was already on TB treatment. I remember I was so ill. It was October and my baby was due in December. I looked at the calendar and I thought I am not going to make it, I will die before.
In December I delivered my baby. Her name is Othandwayo. It means to be loved. Because I was on PMTCT (Preventing mother-to-child transmission), the baby was HIV-negative. I was so relieved! Then in February when I was supposed to be discharged, the doctors discovered that my TB was resisting. I was so shocked because it was the first time I heard about this MDR.
They discovered that my baby - now three months old – had MDR-TB too. She was admitted to the hospital straight away and then they admitted me too. But I was discharged after three weeks. I was crying because I had to leave my baby alone at the hospital.
My baby was finally discharged on the 1st December, one day before her 1st birthday. And 18 months after my diagnosis, I was discovered to be cured. My baby is well too and she is going to finish her out-patient treatment at the hospital soon. I am very happy and proud of myself.
Busi now works with MSF in Khayelitsha as an MDR-TB counsellor.