Cancer sufferer desperate for help
A Toekomsrus man who needs cancer treatment has pleaded for help from a state hospital because it's a matter of life and death for him.
While waiting for a miracle cure the 58-year-old George Joubert is scared that he might go to sleep and never wake up.
Since cancer was discovered in his sinus cavity, Joubert has been living with unbearable and agonising pain whilst solely relying on painkillers. Still … the pain lasts for hours.
“Initially, doctors thought I had a sinus infection and kept treating me for sinusitis until they discovered that something else was wrong,” Joubert said.
After a computerised tomography (CT) scan was done on him in 2017, doctors discovered that indeed, he had cancer in his sinus cavities.
Samples had to be taken to determine the type of treatment (chemotherapy) required and were sent to a lab at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH). Joubert said he has received no response from the facility as yet.
The hospital was taking too long to get back to me while I was living in pain. My family in KwaZulu-Natal even had to arrange for me to get treatment at Greys Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, and we received good service,” Joubert said.
But his relief was short-lived as the pain only subsided temporarily and again resurfaced when he returned to Johannesburg to work as an air conditioning repairman. He found out the same cancer was back and he was once again referred to CMJAH where he was given a radiation procedure during which cancer cells were burnt with a laser beam.
Unfortunately, he started developing lumps in his neck area which also tested positive for cancer. He now needs proper medical treatment. He said while everything has been submitted on his part, he’s unhappy that CMJAH wasn’t helping, nor giving him any response with regard to the sample that they had taken from him. He also said other doctors have stressed that the matter was urgent as his cancer was advancing rapidly.
His worried wife, 31-year-old Jenny Kock said it made no sense that the family had been told to find out what type of treatment he received in KZN when samples had been taken already. “We’re scared that he might die if he doesn’t get his treatment on time. It has been very difficult because sometimes he screams from the pain. You can tell that he’s in pain and needs help urgently,” Kock said.
According to Joubert he stays in bed for 22 hours a day and takes many painkillers.
I eat in bed and do everything in bed. I can’t sit up too long because I need to put my head on a pillow. What’s killing me is the waiting,” Joubert said.
