On March 6th, 2006, at the age of 30, Tina Klonaris Robinson went into labor with her second child. The labor was induced using an 'off label' drug known as 'cytotec'. Her contractions went quickly from normal to rapid and excruciatingly painful. She knew something was wrong and pleaded for a cesarean. What she didn't know yet was that her uterus was ripping from top to bottom, and that she was bleeding internally. Mother and baby struggled for their lives. Before the c-section could be completed, the baby, a girl, suffocated and died inside Tina's ruptured womb. Tina survived.The baby girl's name was Meah. Tina and her husband had chosen the name months before, growing more and more attached to the small life kicking and stretching inside Tina. The trauma of losing Meah would throw Tina into a severe depression, threaten to destroy her marriage, and unravel everything Tina had come to believe in and know about herself.
In the months following, drawn by Spirit to the I Can Do It Conference in Orlando, Florida, Tina met Immaculée Ilibagiza, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide. She heard her speak about the loss of her entire family and extended community, of her months' long nightmare in a hidden bathroom, and the incredible miracles that kept her alive. Sharing with Immaculée after her talk, Tina recognized that grief needs to be witnessed and it needs community in order to transform itself into hope. Her own story of loss came pouring out. She found courage and light in Immaculée's story, and decided to travel with her to Rwanda the following year, a journey which transformed her deeply, inspiring her to use her own story as the foundation of her work in the world.
Back in the Bahamas, Tina understood that out of death, life can be born stronger and wiser than it has ever existed before. Tina also recognized the meaning of Meah's name as the Greek (Mia) for 'one', making the connection between her experience of losing Meah and her desire to work for change in the lives of others. Her vision for the Meah Foundation was born, and with it, at its roots, was the understanding that sharing stories deepens our ability to survive, to make meaning out of unspeakable pain, to understand each other, to forgive, and to trust in our human capacity for creativity under the most difficult circumstances. Tina committed herself not only to writing down her own story, but to empowering others to tell theirs. The Meah Foundation carries out this vision, believing that one story has the power to transform the world: 'Helping one, helping all'.
Since 2006, Tina's profound faith in Spirit has led her through the successful birth of two more sons: the first by gestational surrogacy and the second, through a dangerously high risk pregnancy which doctors warned could be fatal due to uterine scarring.
Join the Facebook Group Cytotec to be banned for inducing labor!