‘I WAS A SKELETON WHEN I CAME OUT OF THE ICU. IT WAS A NIGHTMARE’
Shortly before their wedding he was told his 7de Laan contract wasn’t being renewed. “We were both unemployed, so it started off hard,” he says. Although David had other roles and returned to the show in 2020, the financial side was always a worry. But he adds it’s a relief that, despite everything, there’s no ill feeling between them. “She’s very wise and very deep,” David says. “She sent me an incredible message that said, ‘Don’t worry about what happened. Go where the river takes you’. I have a lot of respect for her for that.”
ON 7DE Laan, there was no problem his character, business magnate Chris Welman, couldn’t solve thanks to his extraordinary wealth – but in David’s life a shortage of money has often exacerbated his woes. When he had his heart attack he was initially reluctant to seek help because he didn’t have medical aid.
“I thought it was going to cost me a ton of money.”
He was with Herculina that day in July. “It feels like a truck is on your chest. Your teeth hurt terribly and your left arm becomes sore and lame.”
David initially suspected something was amiss with his lungs and thought it wouldn’t be too serious. He’d had a similar sensation a few times before and it had passed, so when his wife suggested he go to a doctor, he refused.
It wasn’t until he collapsed a day later that an ambulance was called.
He was rushed into theatre at Joburg’s Netcare Milpark Hospital for a six-hour double bypass surgery.
“The doctor said to my mom, ‘You have a very strong son’ because they initially didn’t think I was going to make it.”
When he regained consciousness he was hooked up to a ventilator.
“I didn’t know how the hell I was going to make it – it was so hard to breathe.”
He’d barely been out of hospital a few days when he was readmitted for a lung infection and then developed septicaemia.
“Everyone was in a panic,” he says. “Back in the hospital they cut me open again to try to get rid of the infection.”
He spent a total of seven weeks in hospital. “It was hell. What scared me so much was that I couldn’t walk. I was a skeleton when
I came out of the ICU. It was a nightmare.”
Thankfully, he pulled through and has been making steady progress. He’s gained 10kg since being discharged, and after about month and a half back home, he was able to walk again.
Now David is looking to the future. He’s just returned from a holiday with friends in the Cape where he spent a month recovering.
“It was just good for the soul.”
DAVID was still in a wheelchair the day he returned to the 7de Laan set to start recording some of the final episodes. His script initially had to be adapted to allow him to remain seated, but fortunately in later scenes he was able to walk again.
He’s glad he could be there to bid farewell to the show that had been such a big part of his life for so long. “They welcomed me with open arms, and some people even got tearful. They made me feel very special. I feel emotional just thinking about it.”
He says it’s been tough financially being out of a job.
“Actors in South Africa, that’s just the way it is sometimes,” he says. “No work, no pay.”
His phone rings – it’s a call from his sister, Monique, who’s checking in about his medication. His mother, Mari, and his sister have been an incredible support system and took out a second mortgage on their home to pay his medical bills. “They paid for everything. I still have to repay all that money.”
Donations also poured in for the actor on the fundraising website BackaBuddy during his health crisis – but the R91 000 that was raised, while much appreciated, was just a drop in the ocean. His treatment cost almost R2 million.
Nevertheless, David is grateful to be alive and is especially happy for the chance to be able to spend more time with his daughter, Wanya Eloff-Rees (19), who’s from David’s relationship with former magazine editor Karin Eloff.
His daughter lives in Windhoek, where she and her mom moved when Wanya was 12 years old. During the Covid pandemic David didn’t see Wanya for two years and he wants to make up for the time they’ve lost and see her as much as he can.
David is feeling optimistic about the new year and says his brush with death has left him with a new perspective on life.
“I predict great success for myself – I think bigger than I had before. This is like a second chance and I’m going to make the most of it.”