Candice Olivier and her son Callum had just returned from Australia where they were visiting Candice’s folks, Carol and Marc, when the toddler got what his mom thought was a cold and chest infection. Symptoms of Adenovirus, which often infects the airways, ‘can appear as a ‘cold’ (e.g. sore throat, sneezing, runny nose, cough, headache, chills), croup, or bronchitis’ (www.vdh.state.va.us).
Over the next few months, Candice had Callum at various doctors and a homeo-path who prescribed antibiotics and a nebu-lizer amongst other remedies, but to no avail. Although some of the medication seemed to work, it wouldn’t take long for Callum’s health to start deteriorating again. Eating less and less, the youngster’s weight dropped from 16kg to 11kg, hence the new nickname from uncle MJ Versfeld.
Although Callum was released from hospital after being raced there on 25 October when vomitting on an almost empty stomach, it would take another 10 days before his mom was faced with the tough financial choice of moving him from the state hospital to private care. With Callum’s weak immune system making him susceptible to severe complications from this virus and the fact that he required intensive physiotherapy, Candice had no choice but to have him admitted to the Mediclinic on 8 November.
The cherry on top was that after experiencing excruciating back pain herself, Candice was admitted to the George Hospital on 4 November to undergo an emergency back operation to remove a shattered disc. Passing each other in the hospital corridor, it was obvious that mom and son needed help. Ironically, Candice was only going to be in South Africa for a few months to sort out emigration papers. Without a job and medical aid, what could have been an absolute nightmare "has restored her faith in mankind," this bubbly mom admits from her bed.
Candice’s mom Carol used all her available resources to fly to George from Perth to support her daughter, alternating with Candice’s sister Kerrilee at Callum’s bedside day and night since his recent admittal. Even granny Maureen made the trek from Durban to help. The whole family have been accommodated by friends Janet Loopstra and Bryan Hockly, who they say have been an absolute blessing to them.
With the cost of Callum’s bed being R2500 a day, Candice was blown away by the response of friends, family and even total strangers who started making donations to help the family’s first grandchild get the medical care he needs.
This includes the pro bono services of Dr Emmy Verster and physio Lynette Swiegelaar, towards whom the family cannot express enough thanks.
Until the beginning of this week, the family were unsure how long Callum would need to be hospitalised, but on Tuesday they got the news that he would be released yesterday as his doctor is afraid he is getting depressed from being confined to the hospital. How long it will take for his lungs to recover from this virus is also a mystery. Thus Callum will be kept on oxygen as "he can't manage without it for longer than 5 minutes at a time," his mom explains. "Although there's no guarantee that he won't get worse again before he gets better," Candice adds, "there is still a chance that he may need to be readmitted to hospital if home care doesn't help."
At least now the Oliviers know two things for sure: what the cause of Callum’s illness is and that their community and friends really care about them.
The family have opened a trust fund for Callum and said that any money left over will be donated to another child requiring financial aid for medical attention.
Callum Noah Olivier Trust; FNB George; Account: 62334865691; Branch code: 210114.
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Callum is finally eating and enjoying granny Carol’s jelly, fed to him by aunty Kerrilee.
Photo: LeeAnne Pratt
ARTICLE: LEEANNE PRATT, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
