This has ultimately resulted in her losing a leg, which failed to recover properly from a break 10 years ago.
“Her bones just don’t re-generate like the bones of normal people do,” says Brian.
Wendy also needs a knee replacement on the other leg, but recently picked up an infection, which has delayed surgery. Further compounding her situation is the fact that she also needs an operation to sort out her stomach, as food is not passing into it due to scar tissue from previous surgeries for ulcers.
“We’ve had to make many alterations to her granny flat to help her get around,” says Brian. “She has not been able to get up and walk with a prosthetic leg as it puts too much stress and pain on her bad knee. She has been mainly confined to bed and a wheelchair, but this causes too much discomfort, as it is difficult to get her off the bed and into her chair.”
What Wendy really needs is a proper bed that can lift up and down, and that can raise the back to help her be more comfortable.
“As much as I have built and changed her environment, we are just not able to afford this for her,” says Brian. “It is difficult to see her struggle like this every day, as her movement is so limited.”
The hearts of everyone in the Hot Care Christmas team go out to Wendy, so we put our heads together to come up with something. Then it occurred to us that a few months ago we received a call from the co-owner of Orthopedic Pillow and Mattress, Ryan McLeod, who offered his assistance to Hot Cares.
Well, when we received Brian’s request, we thought, let’s call Ryan and take him up on his offer.
It turns out that Ryan is incredibly generous, so with compliments of Orthopedic Pillow and Mattress, the Hot Cares Christmas team will be sending Wendy the following:
- Pizzaz Motorized bed (depending on size of her room)
- fully-customized memory foam mattress
- headboard and bed-surround in a cream colour, so her room will look luxurious and not like a hospital!
On top of that, Ryan and his sister Ashleigh will personally cover the cost of new bedding:
- Egyptian cotton fitted sheet
- duvet cover with duvet inner
- memory foam pillow with pillow cover
Total value – R28 500!
If you would like to nominate a worthy recipient for the Hot Cares Christmas, get in touch with Hot Cares at hotcareschristmas@hot1027.co.za.
