DURING his almost 40 years of service, this well-known police officer and media spokesperson helped save countless lives but little did he know how a specific selfless act next to the broken body of a teenager 17 years ago would change his life, even after his retirement.
Speaking to PE Express after officially retiring from the South African Police Service last week, Capt. Johan Rheeder said that this young girl, who was 14 years old at the time of the horrific accident, haunted him every day since the accident.
She survived, but he had always wondered what had happened to her, if she was still alive and whether she was married and happy.
Rheeder said that he was off duty when he was driving on the M4 highway and the car in front of him lost control, flew through the air and he saw “children flying everywhere.”
He explained that he immediately stopped at the scene and ran to help a boy closest to him but as he neared him, he could see that the boy wasn’t going to make it.
“He died in my arms. I removed his jacket and covered his body,” Rheeder said.
“I saw a young girl who was very badly injured. Her neck was basically off, the wound was so deep that I could see bones and her oesophagus. I placed my fingers in the wound to try and stop the blood gushing from it and in that moment I just thought to myself that she was not going to die, it wasn’t going to happen,” he continued.
“I kept praying and asking the Lord to save her. I couldn’t let this beautiful child die. I held her hand and when I saw her eyes roll to the back of her head, I did everything I could to keep her awake, shook her and called out to her until the ambulance came.”
Rheeder said that he went all the way into the operating room with her and after the surgery, he checked on her regularly.
He said that somehow they had lost contact many years ago but he could never forget her and how her survival was a true miracle, given the extent of her injuries.
As he was vacating his office last week, he suddenly came across a letter that the girl wrote back then to thank him and there was an email address at the top.
“I sent an email to an address from 17 years ago and lo and behold, I reached her mother,” he said as if he couldn’t believe it himself.
The young girl whose life he saved was 14-year-old Tatum Cloete who was in Grade 8 at the time.
Today, she is Tatum Terblanche, 30 years old, married to Severiano Terblanche, mom to three boys and a Grade 5 teacher.
Great was Terblanche’s surprise on February 22 when “Daddy Rheeder” surprised her at her school.
“There in front of me stood the man who saved my life. Who could forget those kind eyes? It was the best feeling ever.
“We couldn’t stop hugging and managed to catch up. Now we are back in contact and never going to part again,” Terblanche said.
She remembers the accident vividly.
It was a Friday after school and she was on her way to a youth gathering. Instead of taking a taxi, she took a lift with a friend, whose uncle was a neighbour of the pastor, whose gathering she was attending.
“Driving on the freeway, I remember the weather changing slightly. The wind had picked up and played with the car, it hit the barrier and the car went flying up in air, with all of us being ejected.
“I remember hitting the ground and the feeling of my legs burning from skidding on the tar. I can still hear (the music of singer) Craig David playing from the vehicle as it lay upside down on the barriers, while I lay on the opposite side of the freeway.”
She couldn’t get up due to a broken ankle and the wound in her neck.
“Daddy Rheeder was truly God sent that day. He rushed to my side after helping the boy and he kept me calm and made sure I didn’t move my neck. He also heard me when I told him about my legs feeling as though they were on fire.
“He managed to get people to cover me with boxes from the sun and also poured water on them just to cool them down. He never left my side. If he wasn’t there I probably wouldn’t have made it,” she said.
“I don’t think anyone would ever understand how comforting it is having someone by your side after such a traumatic experience unless they have experienced it themselves. Someone who held your hand the entire time and kept you conscious every single time your eyes wanted to close because you felt tired.
“He literally changed my life by God’s grace and placement. I love him to bits and I’m beyond grateful that he was by my side when I needed someone the most.
“He deserves nothing but the best life has to offer him and to enjoy every second of his retirement.”
When Rheeder thinks of his new life as a retiree, this is one of the memories that make him smile with gratitude for all those years in the SAPS.
Now he plans on spending more time with his six – soon to be seven – grandchildren.
.
