A mother’s love for her paralysed son
THE health of 43-year-old Philippi mother Lizeka Ncede has markedly deteriorated since her son, Bongile Ncede, was shot outside his home by unknown assailants in the Mesiya informal settlement in March last year.
He was admitted to Groote Schuur Hospital and later transferred to Mitchells Plain District Hospital. Bongile, 23, had been paralysed from the waist down.
His mother grappled with bearing the pain of seeing her son unable to do the things he used to love doing. She was later told by doctors that her stress levels were too high, and she became weak.
Speaking from their shack, she said: “I am heartbroken. Sometimes I just close my door and sleep and that causes my health to deteriorate.”
Bongile was discharged from Mitchells Plain Hospital after spending three months there.
Ncede had to take care of him. They were handed a letter by the hospital instructing a local clinic, Inzame-Zabantu in Philippi, to regularly send a helper to assist Bongile.
No one from the clinic ever visited the ailing patient, according to Ncede.
Instead, Bongile relied on his mother to be turned around on his bed. He was supposed to be turned around every three hours, but because of his mother’s health she was unable to assist him, and that caused bed sores.
Ncede’s health worsened when her son’s condition got worse. She lost energy. She couldn’t turn him. She couldn’t help him bath or change his bed.
She relied on neighbours for assistance.
A neighbour, Nosbongile Dube, stepped in to clean the house, cook and change the sheets, while Mncedisi Kekana helped by bathing him and turning him around in his bed.
The situation got worse when rats started eating Bongile’s legs, but because he is paralysed he cannot feel anything on his lower body.
“The rats come inside the house because I cannot feel anything. A rat will eat my legs and when it’s full it will leave. I will only see the damage when I lift my upper body, and then I will know it was in my blankets.
“Sometimes I just hear the movement and try to chase it away with my hands,” said Bongile.
Ncede says they tried to book him in again at Mitchells Plain Hospital in November. They were informed by the hospital that if they had known her health was going to deteriorate, they would have arranged a place for Bongile to stay.
She said were promised the hospital would look for a place. No one has contacted them. She said social workers came and promised to help, but that never materialised.
“I feel hurt because everyday things gets worse. I have to bear the pain because I don’t know what to do. I feel the pains on both sides,” he said.
During the visit, Bongile said it had been eight days without washing the sores.
“I just want a place where I can be taken care of – a place where my sores can be treated. I want to see a difference in my health.
“I was not born like this. When things get better on one side, they get worse on the other. I am not moving forward, I am stuck with this problem.
“I feel bad because I can’t help my mother. I am bound to my bed. I was supposed to be the one helping her, but now I am the one who seeks help from her,” he said.