Muamba living roller-coaster of emotions
Muamba soon to be free agent as he deals with loss of loved ones, birth of daughter
Henoc Muamba doesn't know whether to laugh, cry or shake his head in disbelief when he hears people are skeptical about the coronavirus pandemic.
The Alouettes middle linebacker saw the effects it has on a person and their immediate family, in June when his mother-in-law, Elizabeth Tweneboah, died slightly more than two weeks after contracting COVID-19, being hospitalized and placed on a ventilator. She was 66.
“You'll hear people talk about how much of a hoax it is, how it's not serious, a plan of the government,” Muamba said from his home in Brampton, Ont. “There's a lot of conspiracies out there. You don't know until you actually go through it and you get impacted by it, like we have.”
It has been a bittersweet period of late for Muamba.
Last week, his high-profile agent, U.s.-based Johnathon Hardaway, died suddenly after suffering a heart attack. Hardaway had represented Muamba, who is eligible to become a free agent next month, for more than a decade.
But at 4:40 a.m. on Wednesday, Muamba's wife, Jessica, gave birth to a nine-pound baby girl, the couple's second child.
It was in June, when Tweneboah started suffering from muscle aches and was hospitalized, that Muamba discovered his wife was pregnant.
“This all happened at the (relative) beginning of the pandemic,” Muamba said. “Everything was still fresh. There was a lot of information being pumped out. We didn't know exactly what was going on. (Tweneboah) started suffering from muscle aches, but we didn't think anything of it.”
Although Tweneboah died alone, Jessica was allowed a few minutes with her mother in the hospital shortly before she passed.
Tweneboah, who owned a beauty supply business, was more than just a mother-in-law to Muamba. When he purchased his home near Toronto, he turned the furnished basement into an apartment for Tweneboah and his sister-in-law, Joyce, who was battling mental health issues and an eye-related ailment.
“She wasn't just a pillar and a strong woman who was loving and caring,” Muamba said of Tweneboah. “She was ... super influential and impactful. She helped people, especially when her business was thriving. She would house them or gave them employment. So many people were impacted by her. It was a life well lived.”
While Muamba tested negative for COVID-19, his wife and sisterin-law
were positive, but recovered.
Since Tweneboah's death, the family has galvanized, focusing on the strength they gained from her. Each family member has decided to focus on something specific in Tweneboah's honour.
Muamba has returned to recording his podcast, while his wife, a stenographer, has applied to medical school. His sister-inlaw is studying early childhood education. Each family member plans to honour Tweneboah by challenging themselves to impact others, as she did.
Having his mother-in-law in the same home gave Muamba the freedom to play football in Montreal, knowing the family was in good hands. While the dynamics have changed, Muamba, 31, has no plans to retire. He hopes to continue his
career with the Als, but with free agency less than three weeks away, this is far from a certainty for the high-priced player.
“I'm not the first father in the CFL who has had to play away from home,” Muamba said. “This just will be harder on us.”
Muamba is still is trying to process Hardaway's death, knowing what he meant to him. Hardaway, a lawyer with offices in Washington, D.C. and New York, was always available to Muamba. He was known a tough negotiator who had a volatile relationship with several general managers.
“I loved the way he did business, the way he carried himself and the way he represented me,” Muamba said. “I don't know anything else as a professional athlete. It definitely won't be easy moving forward.
We'll figure it out.”
Muamba, named the CFL'S outstanding Canadian in 2019, said he has heard from multiple agents. Selected first overall by Winnipeg in 2011, the 6-foot, 230-pounder has been with the Als since 2018 and played a portion of the 2015 season with Montreal.
Meanwhile, the Als announced the signing of several U.S. free agents on Thursday, including former first-round pick (26th overall in 2013) Datone Jones, a defensive end who has played in the NFL for Green Bay, Dallas and Las Vegas. Also on Thursday, Als assistant general manager Tom Gamble was hired by the Jacksonville Jaguars in an unspecified player-personnel role.