Love proves best medicine for ailing Tutu
LEAH Tutu is staying close to her husband’s bedside as he battles an infection that has seen him in and out of hospital over the past month.
“They still really love each other’s company so much and my mom is missing him at home,” their daughter, the Rev Mpho Tutu, said this week.
“She spends a lot of her day at the hospital, chatting to him and holding his hand.”
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, 83, is fighting a fungal and bacterial infection, but is responding well to antibiotics and is likely to go home this week.
He has not lost his sense of humour or his zest for life. Until recently he was still taking walks around his neighbourhood of Milnerton in Cape Town until the police, fearing security risks, suggested he stick to walking in his garden.
The other “elixir” keeping him going is the rock-solid romance he has with Leah, 81.
In an interview with the Sunday Times this week, Mpho spoke of the deep love between her parents that has seen them through six decades of marriage.
She said her mother was “concerned” about her father, but recognised that he was not as young as he used to be.
The two of them celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary and renewed their vows last
DOING IT ONE MORE TIME: The Tutus renewing their vows last month month among family friends at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town.
Before the archbishop was admitted to hospital last week, Leah was ensuring he was eating as healthily as possible.
“My mom is very good at feeding him yoghurt, muesli, fruit and other very nutritious foods, and he is generally very good about his health himself,” she said.
Walking in public versus walking in the garden is one of several “balancing acts” that Leah, Mpho and the rest of the family have to deal with.
“We are keenly aware that we want to protect his privacy, but there is also a whole world of people out there who really care about him and want to know what is going on.
“So we try to be as open as possible while still maintaining his privacy,” Mpho said.
She said her father was a global icon, but how much the family revealed “has to be limited”.
“We know people are asking questions out of genuine concern and are asking in the most loving way, and we do answer as best we can,” she said.