Dancing into a healthy life
Medical students change woman’s prospects
ADURBAN woman with a rare heart condition has had free double openheart surgery, thanks to three medical students who championed her cause.
The surgery usually costs more than R250 000.
Gabriella (Gabby) Grobbelaar, 23, was diagnosed with congenital ventricular septal defect with mitral regurgitation at the age of six weeks. This made everyday activities, such as walking up stairs, extremely difficult.
When a teenager she was on a daily dosage of 2 000mg of penicillin, which continued for six years to help her avoid getting rheumatic heart disease.
By November last year she had given up hope of leading a normal life and was convinced she would die young as she couldn’t afford the life-saving surgery.
“I couldn’t do anything. I’m an outdoors person and being forced to sit indoors was terrible. Just walking up a flight of stairs winded me. I couldn’t go to clubs or noisy places because the bass would affect the rhythm of my heart and I would pass out,” she said.
But life changed for her after meeting Rachel Wilson, 26, then a second-year medical student at UKZN’s Nelson Mandela School of Medicine. Al- though the two were bridesmaids at the same wedding they had not met before. Today they are firm friends.
When Grobbelaar discovered Wilson was a medical student she asked Wilson to listen to her heart.
“As a second-year medical student I’d only examined healthy patients. I was shocked listening to the murmur her heart made. I approached Dr Margaret Matthews, head of Clinical Skills Laboratory… to find this ailment in an adult was rare and would be a good learning opportunity for students,” Wilson said.
Two students, Yusuf Khatib and Bonginkosi Mafuze, were moved by Grobbelaar’s story.
“I bumped into Yusuf while doing rounds at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital in February and he asked about Gabby. He said he had been thinking about her a lot and wanted to help. The three of us met a few times to figure out how to help her,” Wilson said.
“We had a vision of assisting disadvantaged patients so we contacted the manager of the eThekwini Hospital and Heart Centre, Niresh Bechan.
“His cardiac team facilitated this (surgery) and made it a reality. Within six weeks the operation was done.”
Bechan said his team, which included renowned cardiac surgeon Robbie Kleinloog and cardiologist David Gillmer, were behind the initiative as part of their community outreach programme.
“We are humbled to have played a part. She had a leak- ing heart and did not have medical aid so she couldn’t afford the operation, which cost in excess of R250 000,” he said.
Grobbelaar had the operation in April and is well on the path to recovery and a new life. In fact, she was trying on wedding dresses when the Sunday Tribune spoke to her yesterday.
“I feel like a rockstar after the operation,” Grobbelaar said.
“While I am not 100 percent yet, I am getting there. Things that were impossible to do before, like hiking, I can do. My boyfriend of four years proposed after the operation and we are getting married in July next year. I am so excited because I will be able to dance as much as I want.”
She thanked everyone who helped with the operation.
“I was at my lowest just before I met Rachel and now the future is filled with endless possibilities – even having children, which, before the operation, would have put too much pressure on my heart.”
The three aspiring doctors have since founded the Yunibo Health Trust to help patients access operations they cannot afford. They are looking for sponsors. Wilson also heads up Doctors who Care under the trust initiative which welcomes pledges of at least R50 from fellow doctors. They also run the Patient Adoption Students Section, which encourages medical students to “adopt” a recovering patient.