Your Family - April 2017

FIRST PERSON

APRIL 2017 35

Everything changed on 13 September

2011. At around 6.30am my then fiancé,
      Lourens, and I were travelling in his bakkie
      to gym in Lonehill. We were stuck in
      heavy traffic and approaching a four-
      way stop in the left-hand lane headed
      straight over the intersection when a taxi
      tried to enter our lane from the right-
      hand turning-only lane. The front left of
      the taxi collided with the back right of
      Lourens’s bakkie. Once we’d cleared the
      intersection, Lourens pulled over to the
      side of the road to assess the damage
      and get the taxi driver’s details for the
      accident report. However, the taxi driver
      stopped in the middle of the intersection
      and refused to roll down his window or
      acknowledge Lourens, who was trying
      to talk to him. When I saw there was no
      cooperation, I got out of the bakkie and
      walked over to try and help. That decision
      changed my life forever.
      I was about a metre away from
      the taxi when the driver looked me right
      in the eye and accelerated straight into
      me, knocking me down. As I stood up,
      I yelled that he couldn’t just drive while
      I was standing right there. Then, without
      any hesitation, he went for me with
      absolute intention.
      As the taxi hit me and knocked me
      down, the driver didn’t stop. I became
      stuck beneath the taxi and as it sped
      up my instinct told me to keep my head

and neck as far away from the road as

possible. I managed to hook my forearms

into parts underneath the taxi and pull my

head and chest towards them, but as the

road opened up and the taxi continued

to pick up speed, I struggled to keep my

head away from the ground. When the

taxi was eventually forced to stop, after

dragging me along the tar beneath it

for 780 metres, the back wheel on the

driver’s side was on my pelvis. I regained

consciousness when the taxi was lifted

off my body.

Firemen from the Lonehill Fire

Department tried to keep me stable while

we waited for the ambulance to arrive.

I was taken to Life Fourways Hospital

where, after seven hours, the doctors

managed to stabilise me. Further scans

and procedures revealed the extent of

my injuries: extensive extra-cranial soft

tissue injury, partial compression fractures

and other injuries of several vertebrae,

a fractured left baby finger, a cracked

rib, cracked pelvis, and fractures to both

knees. My soft tissue, skin, and muscle

bore the brunt of the attack; 58% of my

entire body surface area was either gone

or severely damaged, exposing nerves,

tissue, muscle, and bone in multiple areas.

The doctors told my family and friends

that I probably wouldn’t survive the night,

much less the entire ordeal. But after

several days under heavy sedation while

the first of various surgeries to try and

repair my body took place, I woke up in a

glass isolation unit in ICU. Being ventilated

and intubated, I couldn’t speak, but with

gestures and words mouthed around the

tube in my throat, I managed to ask my

mom two important questions. First, had

I suffered any brain damage? Second,

was I going to lose my leg? When she

answered no to both questions, I decided

I would live. I decided not to let myself be

a victim or the consequence of someone

else’s choice. And I decided to fight to

take control of the choices available to

me and not only survive, but thrive. The

power of your mind can be your greatest

asset, or your most lethal weapon; using

my mind as the former, my determination

to live and get up again consumed me.

I decided

not to let

myself be a

victim or the

consequence

of someone

else’s choice

The long road

AHEAD...

For three months, the glass isolation unit

was my home. The incident caused a

stir in the media, and there were several

occasions where journalists trying to get

near my isolation unit for pictures of me

or updates on my progress had to be

removed from the hospital.

During the months that followed,

I underwent the bulk of my surgical

procedures to repair the injuries to

my bones and heavily damaged body

surface area. Because of my injuries,

complications from the various surgeries

I was having, and the medication I was

on, I also underwent surgery to be fitted

with a colostomy bag.

Lourens and I moved our wedding

out to 26 May 2012, and I was absolutely

determined to walk down the aisle

without crutches and in my gorgeous

pair of high heels. I worked daily with

an incredible team of physiotherapists

and biokineticists who helped me work

towards my goal, and although I was

only able to stand for a portion of our

wedding ceremony, and we didn’t do

much dancing at our reception, I achieved

exactly what I had set out to do.

More surgeries followed; it took

over four and a half years for all the

immediately necessary procedures to be

completed. Between the surgeries and

my slow but steady recovery, we worked