Our hearts go out to the Nieuwoudt family and specifically, young Divan.

The poor 14-year-old and his mom were involved in an awful car accident three weeks ago and their plight was brought to our attention by Chantal Lawson, who works with Divan’s dad, Christo, at Tiletoria.

“Divan was trapped in the wreck of the car while waiting for emergency services,” says Chantal. “They needed to use the jaws of life to rescue him from the wreck. With no medical aid, he was rushed to the nearest public hospital. A day later he was operated on for over 12 hours, but unfortunately Divan is now paralysed from the hips down.”

Just an awful story and a real ordeal for the Nieuwoudt family. Divan remains at Baragwanath Hospital and is receiving daily physiotherapy, but his parents are only allowed to visit him for 15 minutes a day.

“As you can imagine, this teenage boy is going through the toughest time of his life, dealing with his new reality, and he cannot even lean on his parents emotionally to guide him through each day,” says Chantal. “The 15 minutes they get to see him is mostly spent tending to his basic needs, instead providing much-needed emotional support.”

In order for Divan to return home, his family needs to attend to certain other basic needs, of which a suitable bed appears the most urgent right now. According to Chantal, he needs an electronic bed in order for him to be able to put his back up himself, as well as pull his legs up, with the electronic support, so that he can get from the bed and into the wheelchair himself.

“This will be his only independence right now,” says Chantal. “As a mom of my own, energetic, stubborn 14-year-old boy, I know how much this would mean to him. I am really hoping Hot Cares can reach out to your network and see if there is anyone who can assist this family with the bed that Divan needs. Even a second-hand bed would do perfectly, as I know they are quite expensive.”

Well, here at Hot Cares we can go one better. That’s because we have fantastic partners like the Dis-Chem Foundation, and together with them we will be purchasing Divan a brand-new Homecare Avante SmartFlex3 adjustable bed with an orthopaedic mattress, to make his transition at home as smooth as possible, as well as some Dis-Chem products, with the total value of this gift, R28 000!

We acknowledge, though, that the Nieuwoudt family needs plenty of help, so if you’d like to contribute to Divan’s treatment, send us an email at info@hotcares.co.za.

Similarly, if you have a programme you’d like to partner with Hot Cares on, or want to alert us to a particular story, please send a mail to the same address.

Here at Hot Cares, we often marvel at the number of selfless people there are out there, doing amazing things for people other than themselves.

Thanks to a mail we received from Kelly von Holdt, it’s clear that Toni Wagenaar is such a person.

Kelly calls her a “super-hero and a selfless mother”, and we can see why.

Toni works six days a week as a hairdresser, but also volunteers at the Jukskei Park Community Forum, all while looking after 24-year-old son Keagan, whose father is not involved in his life.

“From the day I first met Toni, she’s always spoken proudly of Keagan,” says Kelly. “As I got to know her, I learned that Toni has lived her life to make the world a better place for Keagan, who was diagnosed with Friedreich Ataxia (muscular and neural degenerative disease) at the age of 12.”

Keagan’s welfare rests squarely on Toni’s shoulders and this has obviously greatly impacted their lives over the years. For example, their previous home was adapted to make it completely wheelchair-friendly for Keagan, from hand-rails and a ramp into the swimming pool to bathroom adaptations and chair lifts.

Sadly, that home of 20 years – and most of their possessions – were eventually sold, as Toni and Keagan moved to the UK in a bid to receive better assistance from the NHS, due to the fact that they are both UK citizens.

Unfortunately, the move didn’t work out as hoped, with private care for Keagan costing more than anticipated. That resulted in Toni and Keagan moving back to South Africa.

“I believe that exercise cost Toni a lot of money and set her back quite a bit, financially,” says Kelly. “I know she made the decision thinking it would be best for Keagan, but it turned out that they lived a better life here with affordable help.”

Keagan really needs a new wheelchair, but the type he needs is very expensive, so Toni actually started a Backabuddy donation page on Facebook, in an attempt to raise money.

When she did that, Toni actually had a birthday coming up and on the Backabuddy page explained that instead of gifts that any friends might want to give her, she asked that people rather contribute money to Keagan’s new wheelchair.

“That, for me, shows the selflessness of Toni as a mom,” says Kelly, “and I really hope that Hot Cares can make her birthday wish come true. “The wheelchair costs R60 000 and Toni is currently R26 995 short.”

This story really touched our hearts here at Hot Cares and we’re fortunate to be in a position to help Toni on her birthday, with the gift she wants. So, we’re going to be making up that shortfall and donating R27 000 to a new wheelchair for Keegan! We hope that this goes some way to easing his pain.

If you have a programme you’d like to partner with Hot Cares on, or want to alert us to a particular story, please send an email to info@hotcares.co.za.

The South African Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is a non-profit organisation based just outside Springs and it does such fantastic work helping indigenous animals in Gauteng.

That’s why Hot Cares is pleased to get behind this organisation and encourage others to support their efforts.

The SA Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is one of only three wildlife rehabilitation centres in Gauteng and is fully permitted to work with and treat indigenous animals. It is governed and authorized by the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD), and its specialized permits allow it to take in indigenous wildlife, including threatened and protected species.

“On average, we take in 6000 to 7000 cases a year, with the aim of rehabilitating and releasing wildlife back into sustainable, safe, natural areas, where they will have the best chance of going on to complete the natural cycle of a free life,” says Founder and CEO, Judy Davidson. “Injuries range from cat victims to road impacts, poisoning, and animals injured by fire or an electric/razor wire fence, through to natural territorial conflicts and sickness. We also deal with cases resulting from extreme weather conditions and environmental disasters.”

The SA Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is able to call on the services of experienced vets and takes in animals from all over the province.

“There are still many of our smaller mammals found living in human settlements and we often get Spotted Genets, servals, mongooses, otters, rock hyraxes (dassies) and jackals brought in for help,” says Judy. “We’ve even had pangolins and recently took in a sub-adult leopard!”

The clinic works closely with GDARD inspectors, who frequently confiscate wildlife kept illegally by members of the public. These animals are brought in and remain in their care until there’s a resolution and the animal can be placed in a suitable environment.

Most of these cases, along with the orphans that are hand-reared, and even some long-term injury cases, are eventually released using a “soft” or “slow” release method.

The rehabilitation centre relies on corporate sponsors and donations to sustain itself, as the running costs to house and feed the animals, and pay a small team of permanent employees, is approximately R45 000 a month.

The SA Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre has a number of items on its ‘wish list’ – all central to ensuring the sustainability of the organisation – and Hot Cares is pleased to be able to help in some small way, purchasing some of these items, to the value of R5000!

If you have a programme you’d like to partner with Hot Cares on, or want to alert us to a particular story, please send an email to info@hotcares.co.za.

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