Image: SUPPLIED
The touching story of a little Nelson Mandela Bay boy — long overdue for a diagnostic cardiac catherisation procedure — touched hearts across the metro, with good Samaritans donating so much that other children can also be helped now.
Bay residents rallied around seven-year-old Joshua after his mother Elmarie van der Merwe Brynard spoke out about the frustrating wait they have endured to get the medical help Joshua desperately needs.
Joshua has endured wait after wait as the cath lab in Port Elizabeth remains closed, with the health department unable to open it for almost two years.
Joshua will finally get his much-needed procedure on Saturday when Thanda Heart Foundation directors Dr Adele Greyling and Dr Samkelo Jiyana perform the procedure at Life St Georges Hospital.
The doctors have waived their fees.
Fundraising efforts for Joshua were so successful that enough money was raised for another child to be helped, Jiyana said on Wednesday.
“Not only will the funds raised help Joshua but will allow us to perform an interventional procedure — a procedure that will prevent surgery [for another child],” Jiyana said.
The cath lab — used to perform non-invasive procedures for diagnosis, to fit patients with stents which open blocked arteries, fix arteries, repair congenital heart defects and do some vascular procedures — has been closed since October 2018, when the facility was declared broken beyond repair.
The health department has made several promises to get the lab, situated at the Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital, up and running again.
In August, Eastern Cape health department officials said the cath lab at the Provincial Hospital would reopen in October.
Joshua’s story shared in newspapers and on television, also caught the attention of companies including Vodacom, SPAR and an anonymous sponsor who is now organising a charity golf day to raise funds to help as many children as possible.
