For grandparents, David and Dora Williams, November 15, 2023, will be the day they were faced with the harrowing experience of almost losing their grandson, Levi.
It would also be the day that they would see doctors from Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital (RMMCH) and Helen Joseph Hospital ultimately help save their grandson’s life.
As with most mornings, the day started like any other. David dropped off Dora at work, then headed to Newclare to spend time with his grandson. Unbeknownst to him, while he was taking his medication, Levi took the opportunity to sneak out of the house to go play with his friends. He and his friend walked several blocks away from the house and during their play, Levi fell and cut his throat on a broken beer bottle. He then walked all those several blocks back to the house and as he neared his home, David heard neighbours scream ‘Levi is hurt’. “I ran out and all I saw was blood all over him. He looked pale and everyone thought that he was dead,” he says. He put his grandson into his car and with no time to further waste, hurried to RMMCH where doctors immediately assisted them.
A doctor had warned David to ready himself for the worst and when he heard this, he just started to pray. Dora soon joined him, and they prayed together. While they sat, they noticed Dr Louis Chadinha, an emergency medicine specialist, primarily based at Helen Joseph Hospital rush in to help. It was seeing this doctor that restored David’s sense of hope.
“It is through collaborative work between the two hospitals that a specialist like Dr Chadinha can hurry to the hospital and help. The doctor said this was a very serious injury and although the team had done a great job with the initial resuscitation, they needed further help from a specialist to stop the bleeding. “When I arrived, Levi was very critically ill and had lost more than half of his blood volume and we had to order emergency blood for him. Doctors had already put him on a ventilator to assist with breathing and were holding pressure,” he described. The internal jugular had been transected and was bleeding profusely and we needed to get control over that bleeding. He took a fine tube, one usually used for other purposes, fed into the neck, then blew it up and over-sewed it so that it would block the cut vessel,” said Dr Louis Chadinha.
Fortunately, doctors were able to stabilise him and transfer him to Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital for surgery in the evening which lasted about 10 hours.
By 13:00 the next day while in the ICU, Levi was met with the warm smile of a very familiar face, his grandfather. “We as a family just want to thank Rahima Moosa Hospital they went beyond the call of duty. I think that had we gone anywhere else, they would have had us just accept his death,” said David. The grandfather was overcome with gratitude for the doctors who worked to save his grandson’s life. In times of his ill health, it was Levi who had always been there to see him through it.
For the doctor, it is nothing short of amazing to be able to see Levi happy and healthy with no deficit. He thanked the hospitals and fellow doctors for this collaborative effort of being able to save a young life.
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