Dad tells his son’s story of bravery

“We thought it was just a headache but it turned out to be something far worse,” said Marius snr Taljaardt, as he explains the story of how his son Marius jnr, fell prey to cancer.

It all started in June last year, Marius who is now 14 complained that he suffered from sever headaches and nausea.
Dr Nelson Siphole was the doctor that diagnosed Marius.

The Taljaardt family: Marius jr, Christina, Johan and Marius snr.

Marius underwent an operation to have the tumour removed from his brain.

“At first he thought of the possibility of it being meningitis and sent him for scans in November, after the scans returned he discovered that a cyst had formed at the rear of Marius’ brain,” said Marius snr.

He went on to explain that Dr Siphole consulted with Dr’s Dusan Tatomir and Mpho Kekana, who would later be involved in the surgery to remove the tumour from Marius’ brain.

“This doctor was so professional and honest with us, he told us from the start what to expect and that we would be facing difficult decisions. He really involved our son with all these decisions – saying he was big enough to make the choices. We respect him highly for that,” said Marius snr.

The choice was made and Marius jnr underwent his first of two operations, it was to implant a shunt (pipe) from the skull to his stomach which would in turn relieve the pressure in his skull which was caused by the cyst, preventing the cerebral fluids from being absorbed by the body.
The first operation was carried out at Life Cosmos Hospital and proved to be a success; the pressure was completely relieved from Marius’ brain.

This image shows the size of the tumour that afflicted young Marius Taljaardt.

A computed tomography (CT) scan shows the pressure on Marius’s brain caused by the tumour.

“Doctor informed us that the tumour itself was quite big and it would have to be operated on before it worsened, shortly after my son was discharged from hospital the doctor requested that we come see him to discuss the second operation,” said Marius.

Dr Tatomir gave Marius the decision on when to operate and explained to him that it was a high risk and that he should be operated on rather sooner than later, the date was set for December 14 at Midmed Hospital in Middelburg.

“Before the operation Dr Kekana, the anaesthetist, came to us and explained the procedure and what to expect, she told us that Marius would be heavily sedated,” said Marius.

The Taljaardt’s were given great news after those six hours had passed; at least 90% of the tumour had been removed.

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan show the relief of pressure after the shunt was put into Marius’ head.

“Those six hours felt like two days to us, roughly an hour before the operation concluded Dr Kekana came to us to reassure us that everything had gone according to plan and that the operation was a success, we burst into tears as we felt a relief like no other,” he said.

The Taljaardt’s would like to thank all the doctors involved in guiding Marius jnr through this stage in his life.

“We take everything so for granted, the Lord has been good to us,” he said.

Young Marius who was very quite spoke saying thank you to the hospital staff of both hospitals, and thanked his doctors for allowing him a better chance at life.