Woman in remission dies, questions asked

After many months of suffering, going from one hospital to the next, Ms Reinette Henning (49) died last week and the family seek answers about her death.

Henning died on Thursday, April 20 when her body was tired of fighting and eventually all of her organs gave in.
Henning was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014.

For the last five months she has been in and out of hospital after the reconstruction of one breast went wrong and since then she has been struggling with the infection in the open wound.

The infection she developed in a provincial hospital after the reconstruction.

She never had a medical aid and at that point she was about to sell her house to pay for the double Mastectomy.
There was no time to waste as the cancer was aggressive and she needed an operation as soon as possible. Before Henning knew it, she was in theatre, and both her breasts were removed.

Not having funds available at that point, she received radiation treatment at a provincial hospital.
After the Mastectomy she developed low self esteem as she felt violated.

Ms Reinette Henning (49) died on Friday, April 20. The cause of death is still unknown.

In 2016 Henning decided that she would like to go for the reconstruction. She managed to save R6 000 for her prosthesis and a provincial hospital in Pretoria was willing to help her.

In November she had reconstruction done on both of her breasts. The right breast was successful, whereas the left was problematic. Muscle from her back was used for the reconstruction. Unfortunately due to the injury that was caused by radiation, the left breast reconstruction failed to take. Eventually the transplant tissue started turning black, once a week she was back in theatre where they would cut off the dead skin and pull it back together again. Henning needed a TRAM Flap at a cost of R300 000.

On April 13 Henning was discharged from a hospital in Guateng to go home to her family for Easter Weekend. On April 14 she was transported by ambulance to MCARE in eMalahleni after she was in a critical condition.
She was dehydrated, her red blood count was five and it was supposed to be 15. Henning was covered in bedsores and her head was covered in lice.

Ms Reinette Henning (49) who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014.

“They never took care of her at this provincial hospital as her hair was not clean, they never really bathed her and she was so sick,” said Ms Natasha Erasmus, Henning’s daughter.

On April 20 things took a turn for the worst as Henning’s protein levels dropped drastically and she had to go to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where a medication could be given to her so that her protein levels could increase, according to the doctor it would work within 24 hours.

An ambulance fetched her from MCARE and Dr Reuhl Lombard arranged that she got transferred to a hospital in Gauteng. On her way to the hospital her heart stopped. She was resuscitated and taken to
Witbank Provincial Hospital where she was placed on a ventilator later died.

“Nobody deserved to go through the suffering she went through, as a doctor and a nurse you pledge to take pride in your work and to always look after the well being of your patients,” said Erasmus.

Erasmus continued,

“she was a mother, a wife, a grandmother, daughter, a sister, aunt and niece, and she was loved.”

No funeral arrangements have yet been made as the family are still waiting for the autopsy results to determine the cause of her death.

“God has a plan. You are dearly missed,” said Erasmus.

Erasmus added,

“I would like to thank the staff from MCARE for taking such good care of our mother, also Legacy Emergency Specialists and Dr Reuhl Lombard.”

ALSO READ:

https://www.citizen.co.za/witbank-news/80308/breast-cancer-is-also-a-mans-disease-2/

https://www.citizen.co.za/witbank-news/8240/dubbel-mastektomie-maar-sy-bly-positief/