He could feel her slipping away as he sat beside her hospital bed, holding her limp hand tightly in his. Then the soccer legend watched the love of his life take her last breath.
“I was devastated yet I could see she was at peace and no longer suffering,” a grieving LUCAS RADEBE says.
He’s speaking to us exclusively after the funeral of his wife, Feziwe - a service attended by thousands of mourners, some of them famous soccer stars.
Lucas knew the end was approaching. Feziwe had fought a long battle with cancer and had been in and out of Morningside Medi-Clinic in northern Joburg for four months. She was at home with her husband and their children, Luke (9) and Owami (4), when her condition started to deteriorate badly.
At 2 am on Saturday 11 October Lucas rushed her back to the hospital.
“She was struggling to breathe and the doctors told me to prepare the family for life without Fezi. She suffered multiple organ failure and as hard as they tried to treat her it all became too much for her.”
After she was gone he had the difficult task of breaking the news to the children. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” Lucas admits. “Luke understood. He was very sad and cried. Owami saw Luke crying and burst into tears. It was very tough.”
At the funeral service at Rhema Bible Church in Randburg Lucas could hold back his tears no longer.
“Fezi, when I said until death do us part I meant it,” he said tearfully in his eulogy. “I was looking forward to us growing old together and sitting side by side in our rocking chairs.
“Our time together was too short. You have left an unimaginable void in my life. You will forever be in my heart. Go well, beautiful one, you fought a good fight and I will always be proud of you.”
Long after everyone had left Fourways Memorial Cemetery Lucas remained at his wife’s grave. His friends, who at first stood next to him, realised he wanted to be alone and walked off to wait nearby. Hours later Lucas was still at the graveside, mourning the loss of his beloved partner.
“Fezi meant the world to me,” Lucas tells us. “She was my soulmate.”
The past three years were difficult for both of them, he says. As a spiritual and religious person Fezi had never given up hope of making a full recovery. But in recent months she realised she might not be around to see her children grow up.
“It was hard seeing her health deteriorate so rapidly and even harder seeing her go from being a strong, independent person to being stripped of her dignity.”
Two days after the funeral Lucas took the children to see their mother’s resting place.
“It was important to show them where their mommy is now because they weren’t at the funeral. They’ll also keep some of her cherished possessions.
“I have no doubt not a day will pass without her being in our thoughts, actions and prayers. She may not be with us any more but her spirit lives on and we’ll never forget her.”
