Hot Cares brings comfort, safety and Christmas home to 13-year-old Hluki

For 13-year-old Hlukela, or “Hluki” as everyone affectionately calls her, 2025 has been a year defined by hospital walls, endless procedures, and a fight for survival that no child should ever have to face. Diagnosed with an overwhelming list of life-threatening conditions — from Lupus anticoagulant syndrome to end-stage lung disease, respiratory failure, and multi-organ complications — Hluki has been in hospital since 3 February 2025, not once setting foot outside, not even on her birthday.

Her days have been filled with high-flow oxygen, painful procedures, steroids weakening her bones, and IV antibiotics that seem never-ending. She has spent months alone, tucked away in an ICU room, separated from her siblings and only seeing her mother on weekends because mom works full-time and cares for two other daughters at home. For a 13-year-old child, this isolation is unimaginable — but somehow, Hluki has remained a beacon of light.

Despite everything, she is known for her giggles, her love of games like Jenga and UNO, and a growing fascination with all things “girly” — jewellery, painted nails, and new dresses. Her medical team at Sandton Medi-Clinic speak about her with deep affection: her resilience, her humour, her ability to stay hopeful even as her young body fights a daily battle most adults would struggle to endure.

A Mother Fighting Beside Her

Behind this brave child stands a mother doing everything she can with almost nothing. To prepare for the possibility of bringing Hluki home — even if only for Christmas — she recently moved her three daughters from an unsafe house in Mamelodi to a small home in a secure complex in Willow Park. She took out a bond she can barely afford, just to ensure the space would be safe enough for a full-time nurse, medical equipment and, most importantly, for her daughter to finally feel the warmth of home again.

But the challenges remain immense. Her medical aid, on a limited plan, cannot fund critical needs — including a backup power source for her oxygen machine, without which her life is at risk during load shedding. The family has carried their burdens with courage, but the financial and emotional strain has become overwhelming.

The Christmas Wish: Bring Her Home

Her psychologist, Lauren Freese, reached out to Hot Cares with one heartfelt plea: Help us get Hluki home for Christmas.

She needs specialised equipment to make this possible — a hospital bed, mobility support, and the ability to breathe safely outside the ICU. More than that, she needs dignity, comfort, and the chance to spend Christmas surrounded by her family.

How Hot Cares Is Changing Hluki’s Christmas

This Christmas, Hot Cares is honoured to step forward with a comprehensive support package valued at R65 000, ensuring that Hluki can come home safely and with the dignity every child deserves. Hot Cares will be providing the following essential medical equipment:

• A fully adjustable hospital bed to keep her comfortable and properly supported
• A wheeled commode to offer independence and dignity
• A rollator walking frame to help her regain mobility and protect her fragile bones
• A portable oxygen machine, so she can move around her home safely and breathe freely

More Than a Donation — A Christmas Miracle

For a child who has spent nearly a full year inside the same hospital room, going home is more than a change of environment — it is a return to childhood, to love, to belonging. And beyond the essential medical equipment that will make her transition possible, Hot Cares is also adding a little extra magic to her Christmas. One of Hluki’s biggest wishes during her long hospital stay was a laptop to keep her mind active and help her keep up with schoolwork — and we are delighted to make that dream come true. We’ve also arranged new pyjamas and girly treats to make her feel special, along with a R3 000 home-furnishing voucher to help her mom continue turning their new house into a warm, welcoming home.

Hot Cares has been deeply moved by Hluki’s bravery, and we stand with her family, her medical team, and her community. In helping give her the specialised care, comfort, and joy she deserves, we are giving the gift that could matter most: a little girl finally going home for Christmas — surrounded by love, safety and the magic she has missed for far too long.

Watch the moment as it happened on air: