[WATCH] Nadia is ready for high school
Despite all the challenges Nadia has to face on a daily basis, she remains hopeful and positive.
Nadia du Plooy, the local 13-year-old who is continuously touching thousands of hearts through her inspiring journey of hope, finally underwent her first stem cell transplant roughly one month ago, and the results are astonishing.
At the age of only two years, Nadia was diagnosed with Kearns Sayre syndrome. According to her mother, Lize du Plooy, Nadia’s cells do not generate energy, which makes them degenerating cells (in simple terms). Over the years, this has caused her daughter’s condition to worsen.
What sets her apart from most others her age is not only her strong faith, but the fact that she is unable to swim, run around or even walk, due to the rare neuromuscular and slowly progressive disorder she suffers from.
However, during the course of last year she underwent various stem cell preparation sessions which led to the actual transplant. Even though good results were not guaranteed, Nadia still decided to take the leap of faith.
She was told the results of the transplant would only be visible a month after the transplant, and so it was. Before the transplant, she wasn’t even able to bend her knees or get out of the bath without assistance. Now, she is able to walk better than before, get out of the bath on her own and even climb a set of stairs.
This is great news for Nadia as she is exceptionally excited to be able to start her high school career at Helpmekaar Kollege.
“Helpmekaar has only been good to her thus far. They are really going out of their way to accommodate her,” Lize said.
Nadia also fondly spoke about her first week of initiation. According to her all the Grade 8’s had to sleep at the school on Monday, 8 January.
“It was crazy and fun. On Tuesday morning, we were woken up at 3.50am with loud heavy metal music. We were also required to do weird things like bark at cars among many other activities,” she said.
Even though the transplant went exceptionally well, Nadia’s mother raised another concern – her back, which forms two unusual and concerning curves. According to Lize there is a big chance that Nadia will be able to walk properly after having surgery.
Despite all the challenges Nadia has to face on a daily basis, she remains hopeful and positive. She would like to invite all those interested to join her on the journey.
If you would like to find out more about Nadia, visit her website www.hopewithnadia.org.
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