THE Slabber family of Lorraine, Port Elizabeth, who were awarded R1,8-million from the Eastern Cape Health Department last year after their daughter was permanently disabled during a botched delivery, say they are ready to try for another baby.

Elise and Gideon Slabber said their daughter Heilize, 3, has been in good health recently and they now have the courage to try for their second child. Elise has also started reading up on fertility tests which will improve her chances of falling pregnant.

“We call Heilize our miracle baby. When she was born, doctors told us she would only live for eight months, but she is still here. She is our little fighter and we think now is the right time to give her a little brother or sister,” Elise said.

She said she and Gideon had been surprised but overjoyed when she found out she was pregnant. However, she would never forget what had happened during her first delivery. Her newborn was left severely brain-damaged after she was sent from a clinic to Dora Nginza Hospital for an emergency caesarian section after the baby’s heart rate became dangerously low. She was then told by a nurse there was no one to assist her and she would have to “keep it in”.

The machine to monitor the baby’s heartbeat was also broken.

Heilize, who turns four next month, is now confined to a wheelchair, is blind, suffers from severe asthma and epileptic seizures and has to be fed through a tube attached to her stomach.

She can only receive milk, specialised feed and medication through the tube and there is a separate tube for each. She also has to visit a neurosurgeon and a physiotherapist regularly. The Slabbers are considering an operation which might allow her to see.

“She has to be massaged every day and we play with her every day. The work is never going to stop. It was a struggle to give her everything she needs before we got the money, but now we can. We had a lot of worries before,” Elise said.

Although it had been a battle, Gideon said, everything was worth it when they looked at Heilize.

“We look at her every day and see her fighting,” he said. “Then I realise that if she can fight through this, so can I. She never gives up, so we never will either. She has taught me a lot.”

Although Heilize was blind, they said, she reacted to light. Her hearing was good and she loved listening to music.

Elise recalled nurses taking Heilize away for an hour after the birth at Dora Nginza Hospital: “I think they took her away to resuscitate her.”

The Slabbers said Heilize had spent each of her birthdays in a hospital bed. They were hoping that this year they would be able to enjoy her birthday as well as Christmas at home.

The couple said they could now afford a better life and quality medical care for their daughter.

“We can now afford for Heilize to go to Greenacres Hospital whenever she needs medical care. We also have a nurse who takes care of her. But the people responsible are still working at Dora Nginza.”