Ruwaydah Lillah pays tribute.
Gentle Feziwe Radebe, wife of soccer legend Lucas Radebe, has died after a long battle with cancer.
On a recent visit I barely recognised the woman lying in the hospital bed. Her body had shrunk away. A man and woman were praying at her bedside.
Over the past four months family and friends had held regular prayer sessions for Feziwe (34). She was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2005 while the couple and their children, Luke (9) and Owami (3), were living in England, where Lucas captained Leeds United.
She had chemotherapy and the cancer went into remission. But in May last year it was back – and had spread to her ovaries.
Lucas retired and the family moved back to SA so Feziwe could get the best treatment and be near much-needed family support.
I first met Fezi in 2003 when she married Lucas in a fairytale wedding at Sun City. You could see why he chose her; she was not only beautiful – she was a friendly, down-to-earth people’s person, much like her talented husband.
We met again in May last year in their beautiful home in Morningside, a stone’s throw from the hospital where she would spend her last days. We chatted for hours while Lucas and Luke played soccer in the garden. Luke kicked the ball against the window and Fezi smiled. ‘‘Boys will be boys,’’ she said.
She dreamt of setting up a charity for disadvantaged kids and spoke passionately about SA’s forgotten soccer stars and the plans she and Lucas had to start a fund for struggling former players.
But the cancer took its toll and the people who were touched by this beautiful, gentle woman have been left shocked by her death.
Messages of condolence have poured in, reports Kim van Reizig.
“She seemed a wonderful woman and a good mother and I know Lucas has been incredibly supportive during her illness,” former Bafana captain Neil Tovey said. “I’m truly saddened by the news. It’s tragic she has died so young.”
Rebecca Baloyi, wife of Bafana’s Brian Baloyi and a cancer survivor, was on the Journey of Hope awareness-raising bike trip with other breast-cancer survivors (YOU, 9 October) when she learnt of her friend’s death. “She was very strong, a fighter and an achiever. She really loved her family and her kids meant the world to her.”
