UNFAZED BY COVID-19, MAN CELEBRATES 116TH BIRTHDAY IN S. AFRICA
cape town — South African Fredie Blom celebrated his 116th birthday on Friday unfazed by the coronavirus crisis, over 100 years since the Spanish flu pandemic killed his sister.
“I have lived this long because of God’s grace,” said Blom, possibly one of the oldest men in the world.
Lighting a cigarette, he recalled the 1918 pandemic that left tens of millions dead worldwide including his sister.
Blom was born in 1904 in the rural town of Adelaide, tucked near the Great Winterberg mountain range of South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.
He is older than a 112-year old
I have lived this long because of God’s grace Fredie Blom
Job description
British resident named the world’s oldest living man by the Guinness World Records in March. Blom’s age has not yet been verified by the body.
Grandchildren whizzed around as Blom sat on the front yard of his home. Neighbours arrived soon after to sing happy birthday.
Blom has spent most of his life working on farms around Cape Town. He met his 86-year old wife Jeanette at a dance and won her heart over with his jive moves.
The couple have been married for almost fifty years. They moved to the Cape Town suburb of Delft three decades ago. At his great age, however, he says he won’t let the coronavirus pandemic panic him.
Blom stopped visiting doctors more than two years ago, claiming he was tired of being pricked and prodded.
“Now he just takes two Disprins a day, but sometimes he steals my pills,” Jeanette said, laughing affectionately at her stubborn husband. —