Well-known paramedic fighting for her life
In January 2019 Lauren found out that she was in remission and since then she has been back on the road
Lauren de Swardt (33) made a huge impact in eMalahleni when she worked here at ER24 and she saved so many peoples lives during her stay here. She now lives in Nelspruit, yet still working for ER24 help and saving people’s lives yet she is also fighting for her own life. Lauren is known for her bubbly personality and her work ethic in the emergency field. In 2017 Lauren was diagnosed with a rare lung disease. It just so happened that she responded to an emergency call on February 28 to attend to a priority-one patient. The patient was loaded into the ambulance her partner who was driving the ambulance hit the brakes because someone drove in front of the ambulance and Lauren who was seated in the back of the ambulance fell onto her side. When she arrived at eMalahleni Private Hospital (Eph), the doctors suspected that she had fractured her ribs in the fall. Without hesitation Dr Desire Booysen sent Lauren for a CT scan and in that process they determined that she did fracture her ribs, but another thing was discovered in the scan of her lungs. At first they thought that she had Tuberculosis as this is what it seemed like according to the scans. Lauren went for various tests and it was determined that she did not have Tuberculosis, but she was still none the wiser what was on her lungs. She was booked into hospital where she underwent test after test, biopsy after biopsy. It was then determined that Lauren had Pulmonary Langerhans’ Cell Histiocytosis (PLCH). Her case is the 10th reported case worldwide.
“Me attending to that call of the 14-year-old girl actually saved my life,” said Lauren.
Pulmonary Langerhans’ Cell Histiocytosis (PLCH) is an unusual cystic lung disease that is also characterized by extrapulmonary manifestations. As this disease is treated as a cancer, she started chemotherapy on Tuesday, June 13. Lauren received intensive chemotherapy treatment for six months. The cancer has since spread to her bone marrow, bone and liver and was medically boarded. In January 2019 Lauren found out that she was in remission and since then she has been back on the road.
“Unfortunately due to the amount of chemotherapy and steroids I have received it has affected my body, I am full still able to do my work but on my off days I don’t have the quality of life of a 33-year-old as I just sleep and in a lot of pain with my back,” said Lauren.
Cobus and Mariska Els from Avoda Health have sat down with Lauren and discussed another treatment to get rid of all the toxins in her body.
“This is to help reboot my system,” said Lauren.
For the six months treatment Lauren is in need of R35 000 that is over and above the outstanding medical bills she has which the medical aid did not cover. If anyone would like to make a contribution to Lauren’s to please contact Cobus on 084 602 5555 or avoda.ems@gmail.com Lauren always wanted to do the train race From saving lives to saving her own life
