Dec 2016 – Rachel Swart Fund

Jeremy Hazell: A Profile

Dec 13, 2016Jan 18, 2017 by adminNo Comments

On 19 April 2014, Jeremy Hazell, 63, became the first person to complete the 56km Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon (OMTOM) in his regular day wheelchair, fitted only with a third accessory wheel for improved steering and manoevreability. Jeremy completed the event in a time of 6h40m, finishing with 20 minutes to spare. An active outdoorsman and lover of the mountains, Jeremy became paralysed in a fall on Table Mountain in 1998. He has been a wheelchair user ever since. After 13 years of inactivity and declining health he was inspired by a Tim Noakes article on the now-famous LCHF (low-carbohydrate high-fat) / Banting diet to revitalise his health and start exercising seriously, losing 30 kg in the process. Fittingly the 56km Ultra Marathon route crisscrosses the Table Mountain chain where Jeremy challenged his nemesis. He says, "I am inspired by the many disabled people who live out the motto that they prefer to be known for what they can do rather than...

Head of Department Florian Da Silva receives motorised wheelchair

Dec 6, 2016Jan 18, 2017 by adminNo Comments

Florian Da Silva lives and works in KwaZulu-Natal as a Head of Department (HOD) teacher. The main breadwinner in his home, he also supports his sister, who receives a disability grant, and her two children. After a bilateral above-the-knee amputation, Florian struggled to get to his classes on time in a manual wheelchair. Self-propelling between classrooms eight times per day exhausted him, and he found it difficult to recover in time to teach at the start of each period. Though he was independent and highly functional in a manual wheelchair, a motorised wheelchair would improve his effectiveness at work and help preserve his energy for teaching. Florian received a motorised wheelchair from the Rachel Swart Fund in June 2016. Now, he says he is no longer fatigued when he arrives to teach his classes and that all of his learners have been positively affected by the change. In a thank-you letter to the Rachel Swart Fund he wrote that he was...

45 year-old Jayabalan Govender receives a replacement motorised wheelchair

Dec 5, 2016Jan 18, 2017 by adminNo Comments

Jayabalan (45) sustained a spinal cord injury, which resulted in quadriplegia, after a diving accident. Sitting in a wheelchair during the day is vital for his optimal chest function and independence, and in 2009, he was issued a motorised wheelchair by the Rachel Swart Fund. According to our supplier at CE Mobility in Durban, Jayabalan maintained his chair well; however, repairs were often required. When he was offered a job on a farm, which meant a considerable change in terrain, it became clear that he needed a wheelchair that was durable and suitable for rough surfaces. The Rachel Swart Fund provided a replacement wheelchair for Jayabalan in March 2016. In a thank-you letter he wrote after receiving the new device, he said, "Being disabled, I have to guard against creeping depression and insidious despondency. Continuously, we try to help ourselves because self-empowerment lends us dignity. Moreover, this new wheelchair will help me to continue projects and venture into new projects, further...