Life-altering op survivor pleads for help after 30 surgeries
After a surgery left her disabled, Janet Meredith has continued to struggle to make ends meet and is hoping to generate an income through her motivational talks.
AFTER 30 surgeries, two heart attacks and two strokes, Forest Hills resident, Janet Meredith has opted to turn pain into power and use her experience as a platform to empower others and generate a much-needed income to survive.
The 52-year-old said for as long as she can remember she wanted to be a nurse.
Once Meredith completed matric at Hillcrest High School, she turned that dream into a reality and attended Greys College of Nursing in Pietermaritzburg and qualified as a registered nurse.
She worked as a nursing sister at Greys Hospital before she moved to Durban and took up the same role at Entabeni Hospital.
“All I have ever wanted to do in life is to help other people.”
“I would stay behind in the ward after a 12-hour shift and pamper my cancer patients by painting their nails and then washing and drying their hair. This was something small that I could do to help them feel good about themselves. I am an old-school nurse and the little pleasures in life are what count,” she said.
ALSO READ: Clermont pensioner bears the ‘fruits’ of his labour
Following a routine surgery in 2002 that left her disabled for life, Meredith said she instituted legal action against the doctor.
“Sadly, so much went wrong with the legal process in that I was not allowed to attend my own hearing to hear the doctor’s testimony. The attorneys eventually pulled out of the case and the doctor got away with his negligence. I had two articles in the You Magazine and numerous people asked me to help them with their own cases. These past 20 years have been an incredible struggle as I needed to win this lawsuit for damages to have money to live on. Without this, I live Rand to Rand and every day is a struggle. I battle physically every day and even have special cushions so that I can sit comfortably,” said Meredith.
By telling her story, Meredith hopes to empower others who have faced life-changing events and to show them there is hope and they can get through it.
The encouragement she needed to become a motivational speaker and to share her story came for sharing her ordeals on a Facebook challenge.
“More than 780 people responded to this post, asking me please to do public speaking and share my story. This was the confirmation I needed that by sharing my story I would be helping other people too,” she smiled.
From 2004 until November of 2011, she applied for any and every job she could.
She eventually found a position in admin in 2011 at a local company but this was short lived as she suffered two heart attacks and was medically boarded in 2013.
“I was devastated, but understood that my body was telling me to slow down and could not cope with full-time work. I later went on to have two strokes as well,” she said.
ALSO READ: Queensburgh doctor shines spotlight on Covid-19 treatment
Crafting opportunity
To make ends meet, Meredith took up sewing for others and made different crafts for various Christmas markets each year, but admitted it became too expensive for her to hire tables and had to stop.
“I am a very active member of Kloof Methodist Church and belong to the Women’s Association where we are constantly sewing and knitting for the underprivileged in our area,” she said.
Her hope for the future is to one day be financially independent and have her own home and to complete her book.
A new chapter of growth
Through her son, she met Drew Dupuy, a caring high school learner who heard her story and wanted to help in any which way he could and set up a Back-A-Buddy page.
“Helping people has always been important to me. If we all do our part to pay it forward then we can really help one another better ourselves. Janet has been through more pain and suffering than anyone I have ever met, yet she still laughs and smiles and looks for the beauty in the small things in this world. She is someone who has devoted herself to helping her community and sacrificing to help people who can’t or don’t know how to help themselves. I would like to reach out to those people like me who believe in people like Janet and believe that every little bit helps. I would like to help Janet raise some money so she can provide for her family and so she can continue to help others and maybe even reach more people and have a great impact as well,” said Dupuy.
To make a donation, click HERE.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
