An 18-year-old learner showed her perseverance and resilience when she begged her doctors to let her continue her 2019 matric exams while battling a terrible heart condition and then obtained two distinctions.
Rukudzo Muzondo from Crawford College Lonehill started the year on a healthy note, just having represented Gauteng in the U17 B touch rugby team in the annual interprovincial tournament a few months before. In May, she noticed a decline in her health. “It started with constant nausea and having very low energy. Around June exams, I was sick daily and was not able to move very far without vomiting.”
She went to see her general practitioner once moving between classes became difficult. As time went on, she developed shortness of breath, extreme fatigue and swelling in the face and ankles. One September night, after not being able to lie down from a tight chest sensation, enough was enough and she, alongside her mother, went to Morningside Hospital.
This was when Rukudzo discovered there was fluid in her lungs and she was in heart failure. “I have a uni-ventricular heart, and it was working twice as hard as it normally should. It could not keep up, and that’s why I had all those terrible symptoms that prevented me from feeling like myself.”
Between May and October, Rukudzo said, she was truly scared for her life as the feeling of nausea, persistent tiredness, and being swollen continuously plagued her.
Thankfully, Rukudzo’s teachers were constantly checking up on her and always offering any type of support to her they could by being a simple text message away. They had such a high impact on her, that she named her teachers as being her motivation to finish her exams albeit advised not to by her doctors. “They were all so concerned and caring, I felt I couldn’t let them down. They often reminded me I was capable of truly anything as long as I didn’t push myself.”
During the final exams, she was admitted to Sunninghill Hospital due to fluid in her lungs preventing her from breathing well. With her English final coming up in two days and only being discharged in five days, she would miss her exam.
“My cardiologist told me there was no way I could sit and write for three hours, but I was determined not to miss that exam. I did not see any other option… He agreed to organise me a portable oxygen tank after I had pleaded. But I was to return straight back as soon as I finished. And that’s what happened.”
Rukudzo wrote her exam in a separate room to the best of her abilities, then went back to the hospital to continue getting the treatment needed to drain her lungs.
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Currently, in stable condition, she still takes the medication regularly. However, she admittedly is not as fit as she previously was. “I still have difficulty climbing stairs and walking long distances, like around a mall. But my energy levels are much better due to the home oxygen tank I have that I’m on at least 12 hours a day.”
Upon receiving her matric results, she achieved two distinctions in life orientation and drama, with a 70 per cent average. All things considered, she is excited about the future. She wants to study either child psychology or chemical engineering with environmental sciences.
Her mother, Lovemary Muzondo expressed her pride in her daughter for what she has achieved this year. “She’s a fighter. She did so well under the circumstances.”
Throughout the year, Rukudzo received immeasurable support from her friends, family and teachers. “My family are the most supportive people I know, and I’m so lucky to have them in my life. Without them, I would not be where I am today.”
