Why do you get up in the morning? What’s your “Why”?
The rampant optimist Simon Sinek implores us to “Lead with ‘Why’”. To live lives with purpose and meaning.
And so it was – we began our ride on Saturday knowing precisely why we were pedalling:
https://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/cape-town-mom
To raise desperately-needed funds, and awareness, about the plight of a Cape Town Mom.
As we successfully clocked 150kms, on Saturday afternoon, we’d raised R20 000 – thanks to the passionate and generous support of friends and colleagues. This Cape Town Mom’s plight had struck a chord with many – and what an honour to answer their own “Why” too.
Here are the hard facts:
The woman lost her limbs after she was petrol-bombed.
We set out to raise money to ease her pain.
Our campaign: “150 Kilometers of Care.”
A Cape Town mother who was viciously attacked and set alight, had lost both her legs.
The woman’s devastating fate emerged, six weeks after intensive treatment to save her life.
Her identity is being closely protected, for her safety – but she is a mother of a seven-year-old.
She now faces a long, challenging journey ahead:
First, is the need for a specialist wheelchair.
Second, alterations to her modest home are required to accommodate her wheelchair.
Third, several other vital support items are needed, for her condition. And:
Fourth: In due course, prosthetic limbs may be an option.
But, at the time of writing, the woman did not have the finances to pay for any of these life-saving items.
Making her plight worse, the mother also faces further crippling financial challenges, as she struggles to support herself and her son.
To help ease her plight, two “Good Samaritans” will on Saturday June 12 attempt a symbolic “150 Kilometers of Care” – to raise urgent funds for the woman’s immediate needs.
The route will start at Danger Point near Gansbaai, and finish back “home” at Spescare Rehabilitation Hospital in the Strand. This where the woman is still receiving intensive rehabilitation therapy.
At Spescare, the two riders will present the woman with the news about their fundraising they have managed to attract.
This will enable her to at least return home, with the necessary support.
The riders are myself, still healing from a debilitating rare muscular illness – and brother-in-law Dylan Evans, both from Somerset West.
The pair said they were motivated by the Spescare rehabilitation hospitals’ motto:
“Inspiring Healing – Together.”
The Cape Town mother was attacked as she worked as a security officer.
In hospital, the woman lost both her legs, and was treated for extensive burns to multiple parts of her body.
Her “patient journey” continued on 26 May 2021, when she was transferred to Spescare rehabilitation hospital in the Strand. Here, she has undergone intense physical rehabilitation.
A member of the woman’s treatment team at Spescare said: “This patient has really touched our hearts. She is such an incredible woman, despite everything that has happened she has remained positive and motivated.
“At the moment her biggest desire is to go and be with her son,” the Spescare team member said.
* Murray Williams in late-2020 suffered a rare illness, Parsonage-Turner Syndrome – an inflammatory attack on the brachial plexus nerve network, which atrophied 70% of his right upper body. Complications also required a double neck fusion. Murray is a member of Spescare hospitals’ leadership team.
* Dylan Evans is a husband, father and strategist, who recently addressed his vulnerability to Covid-19 by losing 22 kg – and determinedly “reclaimed my ownership of my health”.
Anyone wishing to donate, still, can visit the following independent website:
https://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/cape-town-mom
