When 15-year-old Heather Botha arrived at the airport in Gqeberha this week after spending nearly a year undergoing treatment in the US, she did a cartwheel for her loved ones who had gathered to welcome her home.
Though performing the acrobatic feat comes easily to most children, for Heather, who was wheelchair- bound this time in 2020, it was an act that symbolised the end to her Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), a rare condition characterised by continuous and spontaneous regional pain.
A year ago she was so ill that even the sound of a bird chirping in the garden would hurt her body.
CRPS is described as so severe that it has been known to drive people to the brink of death.
But on November 19, Heather rang her graduation bell at the Spero Clinic in the US after 10 months of rigorous treatment.
Her specialist, Dr Katinka van der Merwe, who also happens to be South African, practises in Arkansas and treats patients all over the world using her neurologic recovery plan.
Heather’s mother, Hayleigh, supported her every step of the way.
They would have been home sooner, but because both mom and daughter tested positive for Covid-19, they had to self-isolate until it was safe to travel.
The treatment also came at a huge financial cost, but thanks to generous Gqeberha residents who opened their hearts and pockets, it became a reality.
Heather was diagnosed with the debilitating disorder in June 2018, after complaining about a sore hand.
For months, doctors were convinced she was imagining the pain.
But a nuclear bone scan confirmed she had CRPS.
The teenager’s condition deteriorated to such an extent that she became wheelchair-bound, and the bottom of her feet turned black, as if she had walked through coals — and that is how she explained the intense pain, as if her body was on fire.
“Heather has her whole life to look forward to now, pain-free,” Botha said.
The road to remission was not an easy journey for either of them.
Botha had to pack a suitcase and say goodbye to her older son, whom she missed bitterly while abroad.
Heather also suffered various setbacks, such as having had to be admitted to hospital with gastroparesis.
But as the weeks progressed, she soon started enjoying life’s simple pleasures such as playing cards with the friends she made at the clinic, going to the shopping mall and even riding a bike.
Her journey was documented on the Facebook page “Hope 4 Heather”.
“For everyone who has been praying for Heather and following her for the last year-and-a-half, to everyone who has helped her get this far, God has heard our prayers,” Botha wrote to the 2,000 page members.
“She has kicked CRPS in the butt,” she added.
The first thing Heather did when she got home was to take her dog Feebi for a walk — for the very first time.
And she has been doing so every day since.
Here is to a whole new life!
HeraldLIVE
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