Fallen rugby star Tony Onyango's mother has paid tribute to her son.

Consolata Iyaya Opondo mourned her foruth born child who died on March 3.

Tony collapsed at his home on Ngong Road after team pactice.

His mother details how she found out about his death.

"The day broke on 3rd March in a stubborn and uneasy way. The phone calls I received on that fateful night to inform me that Tony has collapsed are still fresh."

Consolata added, "The frantic calls I made to my sons, daughter and cousins would make me sleepless. My ride from the airport to Umash is something etched in my heart and the moment came finally seeing my sporty, handsome son helpless and lifeless. To date, I can't and will never explain."

"My son was 28 years 35 days shy to become 29 years old. A prime age, a promising future and never did I image Tony's life on earth would end. He had so much ahead of him.

"I felt like God had taken a big eraser and cleaned the chalkboard of my dreams. He would draw a different picture than the one I had in mind. The colors would be dark and more somber, the lines less straight and crisp ...blurry."

She continued,

"Thomas Merton is said to have written, "God draws straight with crooked lines" it's true. It is unimaginable listening and planning your sons' memorial service, choosing a coffin, identifying a gravesite. An inscription and unimaginable visits at Umash to view my now lifeless Tony. Parts of me have been broken, and broken again they have. We have never suffered more, cried more, trusted more or grown more. Getting up in the morning and going to bed at night required strength we didn't have and only God could give and that He did in abundance."

Consolata mourned.

"You may have heard people who suffer say things like," It feels like a punch in the stomach" I can tell you the emotional pain you face one second after you wake, knocks the wind out of you. My first thought is —Tony is gone, it isn't a bad dream, Oh God help me-. The pain hasn't gone away, it changed."

"Trauma over time hurts differently, unfolding and morphing unexpectedly. I stopped asking "Why" because I knew that even if I heard the answer, it would be too big for I to wrap my mind around it. How unsearchable are His judgments and His paths beyond tracing out. I do know, the bible is full of stories that helped me. Stories of those who could teach me how to live with. pain. I suggest you learn them and take notes. They flooded my mind and instructed my heart that dark day.

"In the book of Acts we read the story of how Simon Peter was released from prison but in the same chapter, the Apostle James was beheaded. Hebrew too is full of contrasts. Some women received back their dead, raised to life. Some stopped the mouths of lions while others were tortured, put to death by stoning. None of us knows how our lives or the lives of those we love will play out. In contrast I can say, God is good. I have heard the Lord Jesus calming voice and felt his nearness. I can stand beside Mary, His mother, at the foot of the cross and hear his cry. I can imagine the tears our Lord too has tasted at the tomb of His friend Lazarus as He prayed and sweat and cried alone in the Garden Of Gethsemane."

"I have a God who suffered and for that reason He is my greatest comforter. He knows what I feel and far, far more, He is able to give me the strength needed every day. For this, I love Him more. We have lived on promises. We have no tidy explanations. We have accepted this. We have seen the Lord glorified in unexpected ways. We have been comforted and have comforted countless others.

"I have not been through such an emotional timeline of tears. There has been a new time in my house. God has done unusual things. I continue to trust him as we digest out grief. Jesus does save the best wine for last. Until then, I will wait for that day. I can almost taste it now. Rest Easy my son. I will miss you dearly. Till we meet again on the shores of heaven. Amen."