Samkelo celebrates 10th birthday with a new heart
TIME was running out for sickly schoolboy Samkelo Mthethwa and no one thought he would live long enough to see his 10th birthday.
Then Samkelo got a new lease on life after becoming the youngest patient in KwaZuluNatal to have a heart transplant, and yesterday, seven months after the historic operation, he was able to mark his double figure birthday in style.
Ethekwini Hospital and Heart Centre, where he had his operation, threw him a surprise party at North Crest Primary School, Redhill, after the hospital’s marketing officer, Shalen Ramouthar, turned up with armfuls of treats and goodie packs for the class, as well as a Superman cake and gifts for the birthday boy.
Samkelo had a diseased heart muscle and was con- stantly in and out of hospital with heart failure, and had no quality of life.
Although he was getting all the treatment he needed, it was clear time was running out and his chances of surviving without a transplant were zero, his cardiologist, Dr David Gillmer, said last year.
Donate
But then, the parents of an unnamed 10-year-old boy who was involved in a fatal head-on car crash, generously decided to donate his heart, and it was beating in Samkelo’s body within hours of being harvested.
And apart from a couple of days in hospital with a severe cold, Samkelo has been a picture of health ever since, said his proud grandmother, Evangeline Maphumulo, who cares for him and who was in on the secret of the surprise party.
“He plays cricket and runs around so much, I have to tell him to slow down now and then,” she said, as her grandson was the centre of attention, tucking into his birthday cake.
Samkelo missed more than a year of schooling because of ill health and has been catching up on his studies this year, said his teacher, Miya Soni.
“He has made such good progress with his English and maths, and is one of our top readers. He has developed into a confident, happy young man and is an inspiration to the others in his class. He is determined and enthusiastic; a superstar,” she said.
Ramouthar called on people to consider adding their names to the Organ Donor Foundation register ( www.odf.org.za as well as 0800 22 66 11), saying that Samkelo was a good example of the outcome.