Disabled runner’s Comrades dream
Nothing is going to keep Xolani from finishing his dream race
WHEN you shake his hand you can feel calluses all over his palm, the result of all the kilometres he’s covered on his crutches training for the Comrades. For years it’s been his dream to compete in the gruelling ultramarathon – now he’s making it happen.
But he’s well aware when he competes in the 98km race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban next month he’ll be facing more of a challenge than the other athletes. In his early twenties he was diagnosed with bone-marrow cancer and his right leg was amputated above the knee.
This disability is just one of the many obstacles Xolani Luvuno (33) has had to overcome. Two and a half years ago he was sleeping under a bridge and begging for money on the streets of Pretoria so he could buy his next drug fix.
He rummaged in the trash for food and washed in public fountains. On top of all this he has a criminal record and spent five and a half years in jail for theft and burglary. But it’s all in the past now.
The more you hear about Xolani’s life the more it seems to have the makings of
an inspirational blockbuster movie. Just when everything seemed hopeless a stranger saw the potential in him. After a brief chat on the street, businessman Hein Venter offered him a job, an opportunity to escape his life on the streets.
Having beaten his drug habit and alcohol addiction, Xolani is looking to the future and throwing all his energy into preparing for the Comrades.
RUNNING offered him a release. At the age of 18 Xolani found himself on the streets of Port Elizabeth after his grandmother and uncle, who raised him, took out a protection order against him. They were fed up because he was addicted to nyaope and was constantly stealing from them.
Many cold and hungry nights followed. “Life on the streets is bad. Anything and everything happens,” he says.
After his release from prison he started experiencing pain in his leg. After it continued for six months he went to a clinic where he was diagnosed with cancer. Doctors had to amputate the limb. Although terrified, Xolani agreed. “I was scared but it had to be done.
“I woke up in hospital and the pain was terrible,” he recalls. “When I saw my leg was off I started to cry. I felt so alone.”
After the amputation he had chemotherapy to ensure he was cancer-free. Then it was back to life on the streets, but on crutches it was harder to get around and continue a life of crime. Shaking his head, he tells us how he and his friends tried stealing computers from a school in the Eastern Cape but were caught red-handed by the police.
“I couldn’t run so I climbed into the roof and made a noise like a cat,” he says. But he’ll never know if they were fooled by this as the ceiling collapsed and he landed in front of the cops. “I realised I couldn’t steal anymore because I was bad at it.”
In 2010 after seven years on the streets he took a train to Pretoria, hoping for a fresh start. But because he was still addicted to drugs many of his old problems followed him. When Hein spotted Xolani begging at a traffic light two years ago, something about the young man made him realise he had to help. They chatted and Hein offered him a job at the perfume factory he manages.
Desperate for a better life, Xolani immediately accepted but a week into his new job he opened up to Hein about his drug problem. “He came to me asking for help,” Hein says. “We supported him but couldn’t find a rehab centre that could take him in on such short notice.”
Xolani says he asked for help because for the first time he saw he had a chance to turn his life around. “He showed up for work every day, even when he was having severe withdrawal,” Hein recalls.
“It was bad. My whole body hurt. The first four days were the worst. I experienced hot and cold fevers. I could hardly sleep and I vomited a lot,” Xolani says.
He didn’t give up and two years later he’s drug-free. “I knew the suffering from life on the street, I didn’t want to go back.”
XOLANI received his first prosthesis in 2016. That year he went to Pietermaritzburg with Hein to watch the Comrades, as part of a drive to encourage workers to be healthier. It’s where his dream of completing the race first took root – but he’d developed another problem. To control his drug cravings Xolani had started drinking, finding “a beer or two” helped – and his life started unravelling again.
Hein fired him and Xolani vanished. But two weeks later he was back begging for another chance. Hein agreed as long as he quit drinking. Xolani started attending weekly AA meetings and has been sober for over a year. This meant he could focus on his running.
At first it was a struggle because he couldn’t run with his prosthesis but he had plenty of support from Hein, who stepped into the role as his coach. “I did 10km first, then 21, and last year my first 42km. Now I want to go further,” he says.
In 2016 he finished his first marathon – the 42km Wally Hayward Marathon in Centurion – in seven hours and three minutes. Hein, who ran with him, says they were so far behind the other runners the organisers wanted to stop them when they reached the halfway mark. “We begged them and kept going,” Hein adds.
This year Xolani finished the same race on crutches in five hours and 38 minutes. He still can’t run with his prosthesis as it hurts. His leg wasn’t amputated correctly and he’ll require more surgery before he can wear his artificial limb comfortably.
But that will have to wait until after his first Comrades. Organisers have agreed to give Xolani a five-hour head start and his goal is to finish the race in 17 hours.
It won’t be an official finish so he won’t get a medal but for Xolani simply being able to take part is enough. “I’m fit, but it’s about what’s here and here,” he says, pointing to his head and heart.
It’s easy to see why Xolani is also a sought-after motivational speaker at township schools.
When he visited PE his relatives were amazed at his transformation. “My uncle was shocked to see me – he thought I was dead. He’s proud of me.”
He says if he can turn his life around others can too. “I stay in my own place in Centurion,” he says. “I have a balcony. I drink cappuccino. Look at my life now.”
What’s next after the Comrades? “The Paralympics, of course,” Xolani says.