ROAD RUNNING
Celebrating her Comrades finish
Taking it one stride at a time … sedated and on morphine for the pain , with one lung collapsed and his mouth badly burned , just waiting for my child to get off the ventilator and breathe on his own , all the while also looking after six-month old Dylan . Eventually Ryan woke up , but he is scarred for life and will probably need operations on his mouth for the rest of his life . He also still struggles with the emotional trauma that he went through .
More Bad News Arrives
Falling pregnant a third time came as a massive surprise , and with it came still more medical challenges . At 18 weeks my placenta tore , and then I was told my baby would be premature , and that he won ’ t be normal at birth , but finally , after 41 weeks , JJ was born . I held him for five minutes and then realised that he was not breathing ! He was taken away from me and no one would tell me what was going on . I couldn ’ t get up , as I had had another C-section , and sterilisation . I was told later that afternoon that he is in ICU on a ventilator .
I didn ’ t see him the entire first day of his birth , and I could only get up the next morning to go to him . I walked up and down from my room to the ICU to take him milk , even though my breasts were bleeding and due to the stress , my milk didn ’ t appear at first . Still , the sister told me they knew every time when I was about to the enter his room , because his heart rate would go higher as he smelt me coming closer to his room .
Then at six weeks , JJ had more complications , with his lambdoid fused shut , which was only supposed to happen when he was two years old . This meant he might need a seven-hour operation to fix this problem at the age of just three months , but luckily I was referred to a very good surgeon that made him a customised helmet that he wore for six months – we only took it off when we bathed him – to mould his head for his brain to grow .
But more was to follow … At the age of two , I took JJ to the clinic to get vaccinated , and the sister said I must leave him with her and go to the next room to fetch something , but when I came back he had his hand in the yellow bin where the dirty needles were . Four of them were pinched into this hand , and he was tested for various conditions , and we found that he contracted hepatitis B .
Running to Maintain Sanity
Going through all of this with my children on top of my own health issues , I felt like I was slowly starting to lose myself , but I had managed to save some money and buy a treadmill to try and save myself from all this pain and drama . I ran about 5km a day , even though I was feeling like I wanted to die , but because of the medical bills , I only had the treadmill for a few months and then had to sell it so I can buy food and medicine . Fortunately , about three years ago we got a new manager at the company I work for , and he heard about my running history and decided to sponsor me , so he bought me a new treadmill and proper running shoes .
I trained very hard for the 2019 Comrades Marathon , but the day before the race I became very ill and sore , and found out that I had a massive bladder infection , to the point where I was actually bleeding , but I didn ’ t give up . I got up the next morning and I went to do the Comrades , stopping at every loo on the way , but I pushed through and managed to finish my run in 10:59:32 .
I haven ’ t stopped running since then , and this past month I did the Recce Trail Race in Dullstroom . I stuck with a guy for the first bit , because he had some problems , but later on decided to push on . I finished 11-and-a-half hours later , after getting lost numerous times and falling down very hard twice . Since then I have been training for the 90km Comrades Virtual Run .
Running has always been my escape , and has kept me humble and kind . It has also taught me to use my head and to be strong . I have a massive bucket list I want to do and achieve in running – one is actually to run from Mussina to Cape Town , the two furthest points of the country , to raise funds for CHOC . I ran for them at the Comrades , and continue to raise funds for them on a daily basis .
Strength Through Adversity
The point of this long story is that I would like to share with people that even though I grew up poor and didn ’ t have it all , and even though I have had 12 operations , and even though I work full-time to provide for my children , especially for their medical needs , that running has saved me and my family . It has taught me to never give up , to be stronger , to be grateful for every breath I take . Running makes you a better person , so you can be good for others . So I will never stop moving !
Never stop moving is her motto
‘ War wounds ’ from Recce Trail Run
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