PIPPIE’S PROGRESS
Burnt in a fire in 2011, little Pippie Kruger is making great strides thanks to a course she’s done in America
SHE’S sitting on a brown leather chair in her grandparents’ home, a toy unicorn fastened to her wrist. “Hello,” she says, flashing a wide smile that lights up her beautiful blue eyes. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Isabella “Pippie” Kruger, the young girl who became a household name in South Africa after sustaining burns to 80 percent of her body in a freak accident when she was a toddler.
Pippie is eight years old now and the past few years have been anything but easy for her and her family. But in recent months she’s made remarkable progress, thanks mainly to groundbreaking training she and her mom, Anice´ (32), recently completed.
Right now they’re visiting Ani´ce’s parents, Jan (65) and Loesje (62) Barnard, at their retirement home in Mookgopong, Limpopo, for the school holidays. Pippie’s dad, Erwin (44), a professional hunter, has work commitments and couldn’t be here.
Pippie’s brother, Arno (6), is helping his grandfather outside in the garden. Ani´ce says the little boy is sometimes jealous of all the attention his sister receives but mostly the siblings get along well.
“Pippie tends to tease him and he’s the overprotective brother,” she says.
In February Ani´ce attended a threeday course in Sandton on how to care for the disabled, presented by the American organisation The Family Hope Centre (FHC). She’s applied what she’s learnt to Pippie – with encouraging results.
Ani´ce and Pippie then took a trip to Pennsylvania in the USA where the little girl was fully evaluated and Ani´ce received instructions on how to care for her at home.
“The first thing they taught me was how critical fresh air is for a disabled person,” Anice´ says as she feeds Pippie scrambled egg.
The course also includes instruction in the use of reflex bags to stimulate deep breathing, which increases blood supply to the brain. Another focus is development of the senses.
Ani´ce has seen a marked improvement in Pippie since she’s started working with FHC. “She gets excited when we work with odours because she can decide if something smells nice or not.”
Ani´ce holds a vial of organic vanilla oil to Pippie’s nose, eliciting a belly laugh from the little girl.
PIPPIE now follows a ketogenic diet, a highfat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate regimen that includes no sugar or gluten. “Since she’s been on the diet I’ve realised how much damage the wrong food does.”
According to this plan, Pippie must eat about 200 ml of fat, oil and butter a day.
A new achievement is that Pippie, who was left almost immobile by the accident, has learnt to crawl. “It’s been hard work,” Ani´ce admits, before getting her daughter to demonstrate.
Pippie lies on her tummy and Ani´ce crosses her daughter’s ankles then Pippie inches her way across the carpet, concentration etched on her face. Every now and then her face breaks into a broad grin.
“At home we do it on a gradient,” Anice´ explains.
In the beginning two people were needed to get Pippie on her way – one at her arms and one at her legs – but Ani´ce has become so adept she now works on her own with Pippie.
In America, Anice´ was told Pippie should start crawling 20 m a day, with her mom helping by pushing her toes forward. The aim is to add 10 m a week until she can crawl about 300 m a day, Ani´ce says. Now Pippie is working hard on her goal of crawling 4 m in four minutes.
Pippie was left with third-degree burns over much of her body after a freak accident on New Year’s Eve five years ago when a bottle of firelighter gel exploded in the hands of her dad, Erwin, during a family braai.
The burning gel landed on his hands and on Pippie, who was two at the time. Erwin’s hands were badly burnt and Pippie came close to death several times in the harrowing weeks and months that followed. But she pulled through and had groundbreaking surgery in which cloned skin was grafted onto her wounds.
Intense therapy followed as Ani´ce worked to help her daughter regain as much mobility and normality in her life as possible.
Then in January, a woman contacted Ani´ce to tell her about FHC after seeing an insert about Pippie on a news network.
Her grandchild and the child’s parents had done a course with the centre, which had dramatically improved the family’s life, the woman told her.
Ani´ce was willing to try anything and after doing the course headed to Pennsylvania for more help.
A variety of specialists worked with Pippie to evaluate her. “They draw up a chart with seven points, including sight and touch,” Anice´ says.
Then they work according to age – physical and mental.
“Pippie was 94 months old [seven years and eight months at the time of their visit] but her psychological age was 19 months,” Ani´ce says.
FHC establishes which part of the brain needs help and works out treatment accordingly.
In one exercise, sounds are played in different places and Pippie must identify where each sound is coming from.
“The centre provides you [the parent] with enough information so you can practise with your child,” Ani´ce says.
ANOTHER major milestone is that Pippie is finally able to sit unaided. “I cried the first time she sat by herself,” Ani´ce says. The little girl’s vocabulary and pronunciation have also improved markedly. While we chat to Ani´ce, Pippie chips in with a word here and there.
Time for another exercise. A reflex bag is put over Pippie’s mouth and nose and fastened around her head with a cord.
She breathes into the bag for a bit but before it’s time for Ani´ce to remove the bag, Pippie says, “Ten.”
“No, it’s not 10 yet,” Ani´ce says, smiling. The little girl’s breathing becomes faster and faster and by the time Ani´ce removes the bag, Pippie is out of breath.
“To her it’s like running,” she explains. Then she massages Pippie’s skin with a petroleum gel-based substance.
In Pennsylvania specialists assessed and guided Ani´ce on Pippie’s breathing, her diet, her Achilles tendon (which is involved in crawling) and her reading ability.
On their final day at the centre they saw FHC director Matthew Newell, who said many of Pippie’s problems weren’t related to her brain. Rather, they’re caused by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the condition of her skin. “It hurts when people touch her,” Ani´ce explains.
Ideally they should return to FHC after six months, which would mean heading to the USA in December. “By that time Matthew wants Pippie to be 50 percent improved,” Ani´ce says.
FHC’s approach is based on neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to form new neural pathways. Neurons in the brain can compensate for injury by adapting your behaviour to new circumstances and environments.
“For example, if there’s a lesion on your brain, the neurons learn to work around it,” Ani´ce explains.
She shows us a plastic object with various points, sharp and blunt. Ani´ce presses the sharp points against Pippie’s fingertips so she can experience the different sensations.
Ani´ce has the highest praise for the FHC team. “They’re on a different level.” And although she realises the centre doesn’t promise miracle cures and there’s a lot of hard work ahead of them, she’s optimistic.
“For the first time in five years I have real hope.”
‘The first thing [The Family Hope Centre] taught me was how critical fresh air is for a disabled person’