Hyena-attack survivor ‘still has a long road ahead of him’

The young boy whose face was mauled by a hyena in May learns to suck again and celebrates with a strawberry milkshake for breakfast.

Rodwell Khomazana, who celebrated his ninth birthday on 17 July, was rushed to a Harare hospital in May after he was attacked in his sleep by a hyena during an all-night church gathering outside Harare.

Dr Kim Barnard, Khomazana’s paediatrician, said despite Khomazana doing well from a procedural perspective, he has hit a slump in his emotional reserves.

“It was around his second procedure. He was always in high spirits and became sad and withdrawn, which is understandable considering what he has been through,” Barnard said.

Barnard said they celebrated his ninth birthday by throwing him a party in the hospital.

“It was overwhelming for him, the rehabilitation team had games, balloons and presents,” Barnard said.

She said Khomazana had also started to walk around with a physiotherapist to gain muscle strength. This month, doctors took a flap of skin from his leg to reconstruct his mid-face.

“It was about a nine-hour operation to graft and to connect the tissues,” Barnard said.

She said he had been in the intensive care unit since so doctors could monitor that the skin graft was not rejected.

On 14 July, Khomazana underwent the third phase of reconstruction, which was advancements on the flap and lip to cover the right cheek and right lower lip scarring.

“The scars had to be neatened to avoid skin pulling in abnormal positions so it’s not so much cosmetic as functional,”
Barnard said.

During the second operation, skin was removed from his leg and added to the forehead.

“He had three magnetic implants to his face placed in the bone where his nose will eventually be so they can put a prosthetic nose on the implant,” she said.

Barnard said Khomazana has a rehabilitation team consisting of a dietician, speech therapist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist and play therapist to help specific fields to recover.

“He needs to learn certain things with the face that has been given to him,” Barnard said.

She said the team got Khomazana a speaking valve that allows him to vocalise.

“He is also getting rehabilitation from a mouth perspective to get him to suck from straws and to get in oral feeds. It has been a process,” she said.

Khomazana would undergo his next operation next week – a procedure to fine-tune what has been done now the swelling has gone down.

“He still has a long road ahead of him,” Barnard said.

– marizkac@citizen.co.za