Learner of pedestrian accident doing well
“She was not well looked after in the hospital, which broke my heart and I requested the hospital discharge her to take care of her myself.”
A young learner of Laerskool Wierdapark, who was involved in a pedestrian accident two weeks ago, is recovering from orthopaedic surgery at home.
The 12-year-old Alexis Timmerman incurred a serious injury to her arm when she was struck by a minibus taxi on Friday afternoon when she ran across the road from her school to buy sweets at a local garage.
According to her primary caretaker and grandmother, Marinda Merryweather, the orthopaedic surgery on her arm was successful and Alexis was doing well.
Alexis fractured her arm in two places and suffered a major soft tissue injury to her knee.
“She will be allowed to return to school tomorrow (Wednesday),” Merryweather said.
Merryweather said they would also like to inform the community not to make any further payments for Alexis’ medical expenses.
Rekord reported earlier Merryweather’s medical insurance was insufficient to cover the medical cost at a private facility, after being admitted to Kalafong hospital “under appalling circumstances”.
“She was not well looked after in the hospital, which broke my heart and I requested the hospital discharge her to take care of her myself.”
Merryweather related that Alexis’ best friend’s mother approached the school’s principal to assist her to found a group where the community could donate to help them cover the expenses at a private health facility.
She said the principal approached a legal practitioner who created a fund, which was published and posted widely.
After that, a local orthopaedic surgeon informed them that he was willing to assist Alexis with the necessary surgery to her arm free of charge at Cure Care in Erasmuskloof, Pretoria.
“It is amazing, the school, parents, friends and community have been simply amazing. We are blown away and deeply touched by this kind of support and kindness.”
Through tears, Merryweather said that people got so alienated from each other since the impact of Covid on communities, but “here we see how faithful God is, He still uses people to reach out to us under dreadful circumstances”.
Alexis said she was feeling a lot better and was looking forward to attending school again.
She especially appreciated that a teacher from her school visited her at home and brought her “all these packets of sweets, books to read, and some nice activities to do”.
Kalafong hospital spokesperson Given Makobela said when patients arrive at the hospital’s casualty department, they work according to a system.
He said priority was given to patients with more life-threatening injuries or conditions than others. And on weekends especially they experience a lot of trauma cases.
According to Makobela, however, a follow up of the complaint and an investigation of the allegations were going to be conducted.
ALSO READ: Learner of pedestrian accident to return to school soon
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