ONE of the worst parts of her paralysis and never-ending pain is that her three-year-old son will lie on the floor just to be close to her and sometimes he’d snuggle up next to her, not fully understanding that there are some parts of mommy that hurt.
This is how much-loved local media personality and Algoa FM presenter, Queenie Grootboom, described her feelings after her health recently deteriorated due to a growth on her spine.
This left her paralysed from the ribs down and recovering from a bedsore that measured approximately 15cm deep at some point.
“It has been an extremely long and trying journey. Pain has been a constant feature in my life and medical staff have become a daily interaction. Whether they’re doctors, nurses or sisters, every day there is some kind of interaction,” she explained.
According to Queenie, she first realised that something was wrong in early 2019 when she went to the beach, walked into the water and it felt “as if someone was pouring boiling water over her feet”. The burning feet later turned into burning legs too and she started experiencing constant back pain.
She said when she heard that there was a growth on her spine, she just didn’t believe it.
“I honestly don’t know why but I just thought that there’s no way. I had come to accept that [the problem] would be neurological, but I never expected it to be just one thing, the growth.
“As a result of how I was feeling, I thought it would be an overall problem that could be managed with good medication, etc.”
Queenie subsequently underwent surgery to remove the growth but was already paralysed at that point. “My paralysis was already present about a month and a half before the surgery. As far as I remember and understand, everything went well with the surgery.”
Queenie explained that she was paralysed from just below the ribs down.
“I cannot feel parts of my stomach, and my legs and toes also don’t move. My upper body above the ribs is still fully functional. My arms are working and I’m able to do normal chores, like eating, helping with bath time and luckily the paralysis in both hands (three fingers affected in both hands) has cleared or healed,” she said.
Those who know Queenie and even her loyal listeners, know that she used to be a very active person, always running around to do errands for her mother and son, Graceton, being an exceptional aunt to the children in her family, spending lots of time with her fur baby, Veevo, and as she put it: living her best life.
“I haven’t spent much time with Veevo or even in outreach. Veevo doesn’t understand why he cannot jump on me anymore and that has caused some confusion too. Everything has changed for now but maybe someday I’ll be able to return to the life I knew of loving my fur baby and helping others too.
“I used to love driving and being on the road brought me great joy. Now I’m always in bed. I only move when we have hospital visits and being in the car becomes an uncomfortable and sometimes painful experience,” Queenie explained.
“I can’t be there for the kids. My condition has affected my son the most because he’s only three years old and doesn’t understand what’s happening.
“He sometimes snuggles up and it’s very painful because of the wound but I have to be strong because I don’t want him to feel rejected or unloved.
“It’s crazy to think that even the pain needs to be celebrated because it means that I can feel pain from an area where I shouldn’t be feeling much. My family and I, especially mom, have been amazing though and I don’t even think I focus that much on my condition because they keep me preoccupied or entertained. It has been a huge adjustment,” Queenie said.
She added that the bedsore on the right side of her lower back had been as big as 20x25mm but has improved significantly thanks to wonderful nurses like Jeanette Bowls, that has been with her mother since December and advising on wound care.
“I’ve been so blessed to have amazing doctors like Dr Stewart and Dr Mayapi, who have overseen both my debridement procedures and recovery treatment. I’ve also recently shared how blessed I am to be working for Algoa FM, a company that has allowed me to continue working from home and has supported me with tools that would make it easy to do so.”
Queenie added: “If there’s anything I’ve learnt, it’s to live life to the fullest. Participate in life. I’ve realised that it’s quite a thing to be present but not able to participate in things.
“Your body has you locked up and for me it’s still going to take some time to learn and understand this new life. We don’t know what will happen in time and with physiotherapy but we have to give the bedsore some time to recover.”
- Anyone who would like to help Queenie on her journey to recovery, can take a look at her Backabuddy campaign: www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/algoafm-queenie.
