ARTICLES
Man on a mission!
“I was studying in my hospital bed, writing exams with everyone wanting to know what was happening. I had this huge bulge on my neck; I was on serious painkillers three times a day.”
– Nhliziyo Sibiya
Not even a serious, sudden illness could stop Nhliziyo Sibiya from acing his Matric exams and realising his dreams.
“I wasn’t always focused on my schoolwork,” says Nhliziyo Sibiya. “But when I started to take it more seriously, my results just got better and better.” Sitintile Secondary is a small school in Kanyamazane, a local community on the outskirts of Mbombela, Mpumalanga.
Here, Nhliziyo saw his sister excel in her own exams, and was inspired to give his own studies “a little more attention”. That renewed focus would see him achieve six distinctions – in mathematics, physical
science, accounting, life orientation, life science and English – through significant adversity.
Shortly after writing his first paper, Nhliziyo noticed a bump beginning to form on the right side of his neck, under his jawline. “I thought it was a minor thing; an immune response or something like that,” he says. “But it didn’t go away, and it started to grow.”
Equally concerning were the headaches. “On the day that I wrote my second paper, the bump was big enough to be noticeable. By then the headaches were bad enough that I considered not writing at all,
and in the end, I wrote the exam on a lot of painkillers.”
Immediately after he’d finished his exam, Nhliziyo was picked up by his aunt, who rushed him to the Emergency Centre at Mediclinic Nelspruit. There, he was admitted and taken for tests.
Concerning results
The results were concerning, says Dr Pieter Scheepers, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon who attended to Nhliziyo. “We did MRI and CT scans on the same day and managed to confirm he had a large mass in the lymph node in his neck. Something was causing an infection, which led to an abscess.”
At that point, it was difficult to understand what had caused the mass, and Dr Scheepers and his team decided to start on a conservative treatment. That treatment involved draining the abscess and prescribing a short, strong dose of infection- fighting antibiotics.
Carefully monitoring Nhliziyo’s symptoms over the next five days, Dr Scheepers administered a course of medications, including painkillers and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
“Nhliziyo didn’t miss a single exam during this time, as his aunt collected him each morning and drove him to school, 35 minutes away.”
“It was interesting,” says Nhliziyo. “Studying in my hospital bed, writing exams with everyone
wanting to know what was happening. I had this huge bulge on my neck, I was wearing a mask and a hoodie. There were so many drugs in my system; I was on serious painkillers three times a day. I don’t know what high feels like, but I felt pretty high.”
Immune response
Over the course of that week, Nhliziyo’s condition improved, as the medicines helped boost his immune response and the abscess cleared. “It was a stressful time because I was worried it might be cancer,” says Nhliziyo. “And I was worried that all of this might influence my grades. But at the hospital, everyone was very open with me. The moment they knew something, or had results or saw an improvement, they told
me. They explained everything very clearly, and that kept me optimistic.” The Mediclinic Nelspruit team was committed to providing excellent but conservative care, to ensure Nhliziyo was able to complete his exams. Family played a big role, too. “Everyone in my family knew what was happening,” says Nhliziyo, “and they all wanted to know every detail, and to see if they could help in some way. I was getting 15, 20 phone calls a day, visits; it was
amazing.”
Today, Nhliziyo is in residence at the University of Cape Town, studying towards a degree in software engineering. “My parents have never been down here before, so they are sometimes anxious about the distance, but they’re very proud.”
Great things
Dr Scheepers is proud too. “He’s a young guy with a strong immune system, and clearly, he has a very strong mind. It’s very rewarding to treat someone like that, especially when they come from a small town, and you see them going on to do great things.”
Having been in private practice for 27 years, Dr Scheepers has seen it all. Mediclinic Nelspruit plays a central role in the community, as a specialist centre that receives patients from far and wide, and he’s on call 24/7. “My youngest patient was two hours old; my oldest was aged 99. It is non-stop.”
“I have kids, so I know what it’s like,” Dr Scheepers adds. “If parents come in and say their child needs elective surgery, I will always try and match it with the school holidays or schedule it for when there’s a long enough break.
It’s important for me, and really all of us here, for the kids to have a normal
life and to be able to excel at the things that are important to them.”
Dr Pieter Scheepers