She looks tired sitting in her hospital bed with her shaven head and doe eyes.
“Almost everyone on my mother’s side of the family has died of cancer,” SIMONE MULDER (15) says.
The day before she started treatment in early April she had to say goodbye to her mom, Belinda, at a memorial service in Malmesbury. Belinda died aged 43 after losing a 10-year battle with cancer.
“My mom and I couldn’t really talk to each other about cancer before her death. We preferred to avoid the subject.” Simone fights back tears. “My family still don’t talk about cancer or my mom’s death because we don’t know what to say to one another.”
Simone tries to stay positive despite everything, her father, Petrus, says. “She’s my inspiration to stay strong.”
He hardly had time to mourn his wife’s death before Simone’s ordeal with the disease started. Almost every day he drives 80 km from Malmesbury to Cape Town and back to be with Simone.
Petrus is terrified. “The same thing that led to my wife’s death is now happening to my daughter,” he says.
“I don’t know what I would have done if it wasn’t for the people of Malmesbury,” Petrus says, grateful for the support of friends and neighbours.
It’s estimated their mounting medical expenses will reach half a million rand. Petrus has already taken out a second bond on his house and has now put it on the market. Edwin and 21-year-old Cornette have had to postpone their studies and two of Simone’s beloved horses have been sold to settle debts.
All she can do now is wait, confident funds will arrive from somewhere so she can start a second course of chemotherapy.
“She must just get well,” he says. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost her too.”
- To help Simone with funding for her treatment e-mail huntersdirect@ telkomsa.net or make a deposit into the Simone Mulder Cancer Fund, First National Bank, Malmesbury. The account number is 62229889269; the branch code is 200507.
