Young genetic disease fighter lives his dream
The seven-year-old lived his future dream for a day.
Seven-year-old Stefan Greef, who suffers from a rare genetic bone marrow disease, had one of his biggest dreams come true thanks to Maropeng and Reach for a Dream.
Even at his young age Stefan has his mind set on a future career path – to become a paleoanthropologist.
Maropeng, together with the Reach for a Dream Foundation, an NPO that works with sponsors to help fulfil the dreams of children fighting life-threatening illnesses, worked together to help make Stefan’s wish come true – for a day – by treating the Greef family to a fun-filled day of discovery.
It started with gifts and goodies, including tickets to visit the Maropeng exhibition and the Sterkfontein Caves.
The Greef family was then taken to the Institute for Human Evolution at Wits University to meet awarding-winning author, researcher and paleoanthropologist Professor Lee Berger and Bonita de Klerk, who is a PhD candidate.
Stefan got a chance to crawl through caves and glimpse fossil excavation sites that he dreams of working on one day.
The family also was taken on a tour of Malapa and the Rising Star Cave, a new fossil site where more than 1 200 early hominid fossil elements were unearthed in November 2013.
“I am honoured to be part of such an amazing organisation. We have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children who are living with serious life-threatening illnesses, and all we want to do is to inspire hope and let them know that there is a reason to keep fighting,” says Dreams co-ordinator Nompumelelo Mlambo.
“The best part is seeing a child who has been down for months, smile for the first time because someone was concerned enough to know what their dream is and took the time to fulfil it. And of course without our donors and sponsors, such as the Cradle of Humankind team, we would not be able to make these dreams a reality,” she adds.
The day ended on a more relaxed note, with lunch at the Tumulus Restaurant.
“It was an honour for everyone at Maropeng to be part of such a special day,” says Lindsay Marshall, Maropeng’s marketing and communications manager.
