WATCH: Engines roar for young cancer patient
He relished every moment in the car. This day, he said, inspired him to become one of the few amputee race-car drivers in South Africa.
MBOMBELA – A young boy is one step closer to realising his dream of becoming one of the first amputee race-car drivers in South Africa. This after he was taken for a joyride in one of the country’s fastest cars this past Saturday.
Jaguar Nelspruit recently heard of a boy battling an advanced stage of bone cancer and decided to treat him to a day he won’t soon forget. Not only did they visit Bongani Khubayi (14) at Mediclinic Nelspruit where he was receiving treatment, but they organised for a number of Jaguar owners to join a convoy which departed from the Jaguar showroom in Riverside to Gumtreez at Casterbridge, in Bongani’s honour.
Thirty people in seven Jaguars attended the event.
Clinton Laurens, Jaguar Nelspruit’s sales manager, collected Bongani from the hospital in the Jaguar F-Type, the same model used in the latest James Bond film, which would be his ride for the day.
He relished every moment in the car. This day, he said, inspired him to become one of the few amputee race-car drivers in South Africa.
“When I start racing I am going to go to Jaguar first and race for them,” Bongani said while he tucked into his scrumptious breakfast. A prosthetist took his measurements last week and Bongani said he was hoping to receive his artificial leg soon.
In addition to the breakfast and other freebies, Jaguar also handed over his first set of wheels, a Jaguar-branded wheelchair. Once I get better and learn how to walk with it, I can start looking to become a race-car driver.”
Bongani has been in Mediclinic Nelspruit since May 25 where he had been receiving chemotherapy. Unfortunately his cancer had spread to his lungs and his treatment will have to be augmented and prolonged.
Since Lowvelder reported on his condition in June, a few residents had visited him in hospital. One of them was Duan Esterhuysen (5), who overcame lymph cancer at the age of three.
“I am good, I am happy,” said the beaming boy, his positivity infectious and real. “I hope I can go home soon, but until then, it is nice when people come to visit me in hospital.”
