If you meet a person who is wearing hearing aids in both ears, had a schoemanright hip replacement, double knee replacements, left above elbow amputation, right below knee amputation and a left 3rd toe amputation, what would your immediate reaction be?
Most of us will expect to meet a person who has lost his or her will to live and who walks around feeling and looking depressed. But not Mrs “tannie” Schoeman.
We had the privilege to meet and provide her with a new below knee prosthesis and her life story has brought us new perspectives.
It all started in July 1981 when she was involved in a head-on collision and fractured her Sternum and collarbone, which in turn cut off the blood supply to her left arm.
Her hip was also fractured and nine ribs were broken. As she was not strong enough for anaesthetics, they had to amputate her arm with local anaesthetics and she had to spend six weeks in hospital.
Two years later she had to have her right hip replaced and later on she had total knee replacements on both knees. In 2010 she got an abscess in her right foot, which got highly infected and they had to amputate her right leg below the knee.
After the amputation she still told her family that they didn’t need to worry about her.
However, this is still not the end of the story as one year later they had to amputate her 3rd toe on her left foot. Despite all of this happening to her, she is a friendly and positive person with a zest for life.
She is humorous and always has a smile on her face. This is a new year with new beginnings Why not use “tannie” Schoeman’s story to inspire you?
Let us all look life square in the eyes and live life to the fullest!
Remember where there’s a will there’s a way.