Young survivor’s journey from head injury to recovery
Just over two months after the accident, the little girl described as a ‘go-getter’ is returning to her lively, active self and surpassing everyone’s expectations for a recovery after a brain injury.
Three and a half year old Hannah-Grace Hefer’s life hung in the balance following a tragic car accident in the first week of 2026 that cut short the life of her devoted father and left her mother, Megan Hefer, with an injured arm and a badly swollen eye.
“We never thought something like this could happen. The accident came without warning when another vehicle hit us at high speed. We were far from home, as we had been visiting friends in Mpumalanga,” recalled Hefer.
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“At the scene of the accident, Hannah-Grace’s eyes were fixed and unfocused; I knew that was a bad sign,” she added.
The little girl was airlifted from Ermelo in a critical condition with severe head injuries, and when she arrived at Netcare Waterfall City, she kept having seizures and could not breathe on her own. She was badly injured, and doctors were not sure if she would make a speedy recovery.
Dr Palesa Monyake, a paediatric intensivist at Netcare Waterfall City, reflected on this.
“Hannah-Grace was in such a bad way, we hardly dared to hope for the kind of recovery she has made,” said Monyake.
After several days, Hannah-Grace’s condition slowly began to improve under the diligent care of doctors and paediatric intensive care unit nurses, whom Megan describes as ‘angels doing God’s work’.
Dr Anrie Carstens, a general practitioner with a special interest in physical and rehabilitation medicine, said that when Hannah-Grace arrived, the most prominent feature of her injury was pronounced weakness on the left side of her body, in keeping with a stroke in the basal ganglia of the brain.
“Hannah-Grace’s brain had to relearn how to recognise the left side of her body so she could learn to walk again. When she came in, her expressive and receptive language skills were also delayed.
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Her initial assessment anticipated she would need eight weeks of intensive therapy at Netcare Rehabilitation Hospital, but she was so eager to get going with her therapy sessions and progressed so quickly that we were amazed when she needed less than half this time.”
Given the trauma of the accident and the loss of her father, psychological support and play therapy were provided as part of the multidisciplinary care Hannah-Grace received at the hospital.
Hannah-Grace made a beautiful recovery; she was starting to walk and speak English and Afrikaans again.
“It was God’s grace that restored her to us, and now I fully realise the significance of why we named her Hannah-Grace.
Every nurse, every doctor and therapist, every person who had a role in the miracle of her recovery and showed us such care and kept us in your prayers throughout, we are so grateful for each one of you,” Megan concluded.
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