Despite doctors telling this little boy’s family last year that he would be dead within the year, Abdul Hakim Madumbo defied the odds and celebrated his fourth birthday on Saturday.
His mother Tasneem Swartz says her son is doing well after he went for surgery in India last year.
Hakim suffered brain damage after he nearly drowned in a swimming pool in October 2018.
In October last year the Daily Voice published his story, where his single mother was asking for help to raise funds for her son who needed surgery at a cost of R200 000.
Tasneem says she is thankful to her family and everyone who donated to save her son’s life.
“Before he was not eating at all and after the surgery he ate immediately. I will forever be grateful to all those that helped me,” she says.
“After my son’s drowning I went from one doctor to another trying to get help but the doctors told us that there was nothing they could do to help us, and that my son would not live long.
“On Saturday Hakim had his fourth birthday and he enjoyed it like any other boy,” she says.
What a beautiful day spent with the little hero with a huge heart, Hakim turns 4💜 I was amazed by the love his younger...
Posted by Venecia America on Saturday, September 19, 2020
The mother says they had a big bash: “It’s thanks to my dad, he is the one who wanted Hakim’s birthday to be big because he lived another year even though some people had lost all hope. He is a very special child to us.
“I’m extremely happy that my boy has lived another year and we decided to open a centre in his honour for other children who suffer the same, called Surviving Little Sailor Play Center.”
siyabonga.kalipa@inl.co.za