Gaby looks forward to a healthy future

THREE medical students from UKZN recently helped make a young woman's dreams of a better life come true, by raising funds for her to have double open heart surgery.

The surgery was conducted by a selected medical team at eThekwini Hospital and Heart Centre.

The students, Rachel Wilson, Yusuf Khatib and Bonginkosi Mafuze, have founded Yunibo Health Trust and through their remarkable efforts helped 22-year-old Gabriella (Gaby) Grobbelaar from Pinetown walked out the hospital a new person after helping to raise the necessary funds to have the surgery. Gaby was diagnosed with congenital ventricular septal defect with mitral regurgitation before the surgery.

Gaby was diagnosed at six weeks old when her mother took her to the doctor because she was not feeding well. She often had to gasp for breath while feeding and slept a lot. At that time it was decided an operation was not necessary as these defects often close on their own by the age of about seven. Unfortunately, by then, she had been in and out of several hospitals and became a sickly child. Growing up as a little girl who loved swimming and playing hockey among other sports, but Gaby often fell ill and doctors advised her to stick to more mental extramural activities.

“I didn't have an easy life growing up, I was frustrated and cried often,” she said, as her condition did not improve over time.

“As a teenager, I was put on 2000mg penicillin daily for six years to avoid getting rheumatic heart disease. As my condition declined, my mitral valve started to leak progressively and I went through periods of being in and out of heart failure. As a result, I was in and out of school due to my weakened immune system. I just wanted to live a normal life, like everyone else,” she said.

Her story changed one day in 2013 when Gaby was a bridesmaids with Rachel Wilson at a wedding. At the time, Rachel was enrolled in her second year of the MBChB programme.

“We were studying the heart then, and Gaby came up to me and said, 'you’re a medical student, come listen to my heart.' I was struck by the pansystolic murmur I had not heard before,” said Rachel.

Rachel saw this as an opportunity to invite Gaby to be examined by her classmates at the clinical skills laboratory headed by Dr Margaret Matthews who gladly said yes to the request for the student enrichment session that was attended by more than 50 students.

Matthews arranged this session one Saturday in October 2013 for 2nd and 3rd year students to have the opportunity to examine a “real” patient, as until then, they had only examined simulated patients that were considered normal. Because Gaby’s condition was life-long, the family had no funds to pay for the surgery. She spent her early 20s working three jobs, including waitressing, to support herself and to pay medical bills while also pursuing a diploma in marketing.

Yusuf Khatib and Bonginkosi Mafuze, two of the students at the session, felt something needed to be done to help foot the bill for Gaby’s operation. In February 2014, they teamed up with Rachel to discuss viable options for surgery. Among the options were to raise funds to send her to India for the surgery because it was the most financially viable alternative.

The students felt passionate about”keeping it local” and decided to set up a Trust, Yunibo Health, that worked with private healthcare centres in South Africa through their Corporate Social Responsibility programmes. Yusuf and Bonginkosi approached general manager Niresh Bechan of eThekwini Hospital and Heart Centre, who helped set up the necessary surgical team for Gaby’s operation.

It was Dr David Gillmer, a cardiologist at eThekwini Hospital and Heart Centre, who told Gaby that she would finally get her lifelong dream by qualifying for the necessary surgery.

“We really never thought it would happen, let alone in less than six months of deciding to form Yunibo Health,” said Rachel.

“I don’t have any issues now. I feel awesome! I sleep my eight hours and no more. I used to sleep many hours,” said Gaby, who added she felt energetic and has a positive outlook on life.

“The operation also prompted immediate action from my boyfriend who went down on one knee and proposed to me!” she said.

Gaby said she now looks forward to planning her wedding day and the best gift that could follow is just one miracle baby. Hospital staff told her that her chances of bearing a child were now much higher.

“This experience has been an excellent example of transformative learning. It indicated what a difference can be made by a small group of people who actually care,” said Matthews.

As a part of the Trust, Rachel is heading up the ‘Doctors Who Care’ initiative which welcomes pledges of a minimum of R50 from fellow doctors to support the Yunibo Health’s efforts to relieve the suffering of those who fall through the cracks of the county’s healthcare system.

It has also given birth to another initiative called Patient Adoption Students Section (PASS) at the medical school where, over and above the curriculum, students are encouraged to take on a patient each and journey with them to recovery.

Yunibo Health Trust is also currently seeking like-minded sponsors who wish to assist the community to enhance the lives of fellow South Africans. The cofounders can be reached on either of these email addresses: bmafuze@gmail.com, bmafuze@yunibohealth.co.za, ykhatib@telkomsa.net, ykhatib@yunibohealth.co.za or wilson006@gmail.com or 206514234@stu.ukzn.ac.za.