A Blessing in Disguise

Being suddenly struck by a burst arachnid aneurysm out of the blue one evening, I spent three days in Mater Dei before being flown down to the Donald Gordon Hospital in Jo-burg, the teaching hospital for the Witswatersrand University, for an emergency brain op. I was quite unaware of all that was going until I woke up in intensive care four days later.

I understand that I had excellent care from the team in Mater Dei but sadly, there was no one in Zimbabwe who was prepared to 'take on my case' - the only alternative was to go to South Africa. The operation was done by the neurosurgical team under Professor Ouma and apart from all those fantastic folk involved in actually getting me down to South Africa, the reason I was able to get that professional help was because of a brilliant, young Zimbabwean, Blessing (name withheld).

Blessing was born in Bulawayo in 1985. He schooled at Hillside Junior and then at Milton High all the while maintaining an incredibly high standard and set his sights on becoming a doctor. On leaving school, he studied at NUST but unfortunately, due to political interference, Blessing's class of 11 final-year students were obliged to transfer to the Medical School at Malawi University to repeat their fifth year of studies. Funding from Canon Collings Trust in the UK made this possible. Once he had his degree, he went to do the obligatory eighteen months housemanship in a newly built hospital in Lesotho where he qualified as a doctor.

Moving on to work in Swaziland, he became interested in surgery with a specific interest in neurosurgery. While there he was fortunate to secure a loan to go to Wits university to specialise and Prof Ouma took an interest in the young man. The course was for four years which Blessing managed to complete in just over three years and then submitted his research thesis within the fourth year. He worked in government hospitals whilst qualifying, mainly in the Jo'burg General.

Blessing is now a senior registrar in neurology at the enormous Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. Blessing would love to have continued working in Jo'burg but sadly, the political issues made this impossible. Just as he had been let down by Zimbabwe, so he has been by South Africa too.

When Blessing was contacted for some advice on who could attend to my problem in Jo'burg, he had no hesitation in contacting Prof Ouma to set everything in motion.

An enormous amount of organising had to be done in order for me to have this operation and I'm still finding out little snippets. It has been a surreal journey and I cannot thank all those involved enough for bringing me back from 'the other side'. I am so truly grateful to my fantastic family and friends who did so much and especial huge appreciation and thanks go to Rick, Nic, Ingrid, Bron, Bridget, Debra, Tim and of course, Blessing.

Jen.