Lowvelders remember legend Barries Barnard

MBOMBELA – A man who had dedicated his life to helping others spent the last weeks of his life shunted from one hospital to the other, getting little to no treatment.

Lowveld legend, Barries Barnard (61) passed away on Wednesday morning. He had esophageal cancer.

The failing public health-care system was again under fire when Lowvelder reported last week how a drip had to be administered to him under a tree at Rob Ferreira Hospital.

Friends called the treatment he received a travesty.

His daughter, Jeanne-Marie Barnard, is upset about the treatment he received at Rob Ferreira.

He was admitted on February 13.

“It took much too long for them to admit my father. The nursing staff on the floor were very friendly, although they gave him only morphine and punctured a piece of his lung when trying to put in an extractor tube.”

Rob Ferreira sent him to Steve Biko Hospital, where they only gave him pain medication and sent him back the 300 kilometres to Mbombela on Monday.

“On Tuesday he did not want to speak to anyone, and you could see he gave up the fight,” Jeanne-Marie said.

She said her father hid his disease from everyone and nobody really knew how much pain he was in.

Barries spoke to the newspaper two weeks ago.

“It does not matter what happens. I know I have a whole army of supporters around me. I have no hard feelings.”

He worked for the South African National Defence Force for about 20 years.

He was, among other things, the reaction commander in part of the Kruger National Park, where he was involved in anti-poaching operations and worked with the dog unit.

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He then worked at Working on Fire and Thorny Bush and, up until his admission to hospital, he was working at Fleur de Lys in Hoedspruit on anti-poaching, removal of illegal traps and the safe transport of fruit.

He also assisted security company Hi-Tech with various investigations.

Like everyone who knew him, Jeanne-Marie speaks very fondly of Barries, who adopted her and her sister in 1985.

“He had two loves in his life: us and nature. He used to take us out on the Buffel (mine-resistant ambush protected infantry mobility vehicle) and he even taught me how to follow a spoor and to handle guard dogs,”

she said with great longing in her voice.

The loss of the father who raised her is even worse than that of her biological father, who died of the exact same disease in 2014.

She praised all of Barries’ friends who were in the army with him for their support, as well as the support of Landé Willemse.

“If it was not for her we would not even have had these last two weeks together,” Jeanne-Marie said.

Willemse, who started the Barries Barnard – Support group on Facebook, said she always had only the highest respect for him.

“He spent his life helping other people and animals.” Some of his old army buddies responded with messages too. “That’s the Barries that I remember. A true warrior.”

Another wrote in Afrikaans, “Our wildlife has lost one of its biggest fighters.”

Department of Health spokesman, Dumisane Malamule, has not responded to the allegations about his treatment since February 18.

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