“God’s little whisper of hope” for Justine after endometriosis

For more than a decade, Welkom resident Justine Minnie lived inside a storm of pain no one could explain. From the age of 15, her periods arrived like a “monthly earthquake”; collapsing, vomiting, shaking, and agony so consuming it stole her breath.

Yet every clinic repeated the same hollow line: “It is normal.” Deep down, she knew her suffering was not a “normal part of womanhood.”

“I want every woman reading this to understand,” she says: “Your pain is not normal. You deserve answers.” Her symptoms worsened through the years, often brushed off as IBS, stress, or “just bad periods.” She endured invasive tests, endless pills, and a dependency on codeine simply to function, and the possibility of being infertile.

By 2022, depleted and desperate, she finally found a Welkom gynaecologist who truly listened, Dr. Al Garra. Surgery revealed a massive ovarian cyst, endometriosis, polycystic ovaries, and later, a frightening cancer scare. After a decade of confusion, her suffering finally made sense.

And then came the miracle. Now 29, Justine fell pregnant at 28, something doctors once told her was “nearly impossible.” Shortly after her second surgery, she learned she was expecting. “I thought it was a stomach bug,” she laughs. But the test was right. She calls her baby “God’s little whisper of hope.”

Her daughter, Mercia Hannah Minnie, carries deep meaning: Mercia, after the grandmother who helped raise Justine, symbolizing mercy, forgiveness, and grace; and Hannah, from the Bible, meaning grace, favour, and ‘God has favoured me. Motherhood did not erase her diagnosis, but it transformed her heart. “Fight for answers, trust God’s timing, and never let your pain be silenced,” she urges, her voice no longer shaken, but victorious.

By Lien Fouché