[VIDEO] Inspiration beyond dialysis

Many are born with 10 fingers and 10 toes, others are born without either. Meet Dezzi – she was born with hypoplasty kidneys but with a definite thirst for life. At birth her kidneys were incomplete and underdeveloped.

Meeting Dezzi was like walking into sunlight as she fully embraced her condition saying that she does not see herself as being sick.

“When she was small, she constantly had problems. We often visited the doctors,” Dezzi’s mother, Esther Kotze said.

After discovering her bladder was not functioning properly, Dezzi’s doctors realised she had hypoplasty kidneys.

“I got my first kidney transplant when I was 15 years old,” Dezzi said.

“The kidney lasted for 18 years before my body started rejecting it.”

Deseré Brits, born and raised and living happily in Krugersdorp, started dialysis at Leratong Hospital five years ago to have waste and excess water removed from her blood – a function her kidneys are supposed to perform.

Life can be hard for Dezzi seeing that she has difficulty finding employment.

“No one wants to employ someone who can work only two days a week,” Dezzi explained.

“But I am keen to do anything and everything – my mind needs to be occupied.”

Dezzi hopes to become a motivational speaker and hopes that her new initiative will open that door.

With her Mad Hatters initiative to create awareness about people suffering from kidney failure, she not only aims to benefit herself, but the dialysis unit at Leratong Hospital as well.

After the hospital had purchased three dialysis machines – costing up to R150 000 each – Dezzi wants to raise funds to help them acquire additional machines to help more patient as the three they already have are not sufficient.

“Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I go to Leratong from 6am to noon, even though the session on the machine takes about four hours,” she says.

“I will support Leratong and the many patients that receive treatment there.”

Dezzi is very proud of her ‘party trick’. She allows people to touch her dialysis fistula – a vein in her arm that bulges because of the dialysis.

“Every time I touch it, I feel the buzzing sensation, in tune with my heart beat.”

In September this year, Dezzi plans to hold a ladies tea event to promote the Mad Hatters initiative.

“Everyone has that mad side to them; the side that allows you to laugh at yourself and find humour in the small things.”

Dezzi will sell a brooch in the form of a hat, along with a message about her life that she hopes will inspire many.

If you would like to support Dezzi, phone her on 074 845 7093 – she might just fill a grey day with sunshine.