MEYERTON. – Brett van der Walt says his mother, Marguerite van der Walt (85), seems to have suffered a stroke in September last year without the family knowing.

She has been living with her partner George Greeff (67), who is also of an advanced age and did not realise that she had a stroke.

“Her partner did not realise this. He basically put her to bed and left her there.

“None of the family were made aware of the situation untill recently,” explains Van der Walt. He says because of his mother having been left in the same position withou moving she developed bed sores.

“The situation got so bad that she now has stage 4 bed sores. This means that she has three bed sores approximately 3-5cm in diameter and two smaller ones,” says Van der Walt.

According to him a new bedsore has opened with another three forming. According to Van der Walt his mother and Greeff had a medical aid that was paying for a sister to dress the wounds twice a week and that also supplied a “wound vac” to drain excess puss and liquids. “Unfortunately this medical aid came to an end at the end of January of this year due to the partner’s inability to pay for it any longer. “We have been buying the dressing materials for the bed sore wounds cash since then and which consist of honey ointment, gauze, pads, disinfectant and surgical tape to hold everything together,” explains Van der Walt.

According to him the cost of these materials is in the region of R2500+ per month and rising as more bed sores form resulting from them not being able to use more dressing materials. “It has become unaffordable. A professional has told me that these wounds could take up to a year to heal.” Anyone who are able to assist can contact Brett van der Walt on 067 092 5227 or send him an email at brettvanderwalt@gmail.com