Six-year-old Liyabona Nokoma from Qonce suffers from severe seizures that have affected her mobility and speech development.
As a result, she is unable to move around, play or speak without support from her aunt and mother.
Her family had appealed to the Bhisho Hospital, local NGOs and government departments for assistance with a wheelchair but to no avail.
Though they receive a monthly R1,980 disability grant for her, it is insufficient to take care of all her health and developmental needs.
A wheelchair costs about R3,700.
Hearing about Liyabona’s challenges, the GO! & Express, St Bernard’s Hospice, Romex and Gately Rotary stepped in to provide her with a wheelchair, which was handed over to her family on November 8.
St Bernard’s chairperson Melissa Knox felt compelled to assist, given the organisation’s focus on providing palliative support to patients requiring assistance.
Knox said Hospice tried its best not to turn away patients who needed help.
Before receiving the wheelchair, Liyabona was mostly confined to sitting and lying on the floor.
She had to roll on the floor to move around.
Her aunt, Bongiwe Nokoma, said this has caused injury to her spine and the shape of her head.
In recent years, she had a wooden chair to support her, however, she had outgrown it.
It also meant she had remained stationary in the chair, unable to move around.
This severely impacted her socialisation with other children and her mother had been unable to enrol in her a school or edu-care facility.
Bongiwe Nokoma said: “Now that she has this wheelchair, her interactions with other children will improve as she will be able to move around more and the family will be able to travel as well now because she will not need to be carried.
“It has not been easy doing easy things like going to do groceries because she has to be carried and the bigger she gets, the heavier she is.
“It was becoming impossible,” she said.
Knox said: “We understand the challenges associated with caring for a loved one who has a disability and we also understand the never-ending challenges the child faces.
“It is an area that the state does not assist families with and we need to all help where we can.”
