[PICS] Water awesome girl! Cancer hasn’t beat ‘Natalie du Toit of Kraaifontein’
A tough little cancer fighter is showing her prowess in the swimming pool.
Eleven-year-old Zaarah Reid may have lost a leg to the disease, but the brave girl is not letting that define her.
Her coach already refers to her as the Natalie du Toit of Kraaifontein.
Natalie won gold medals at the 2004 Paralympic Games as well as at the Commonwealth Games.
In February 2001, when she was 17, Natalie’s left leg was amputated at the knee after she was hit by a car while riding her scooter.
Like her hero, little Zaarah also swims without the aid of a prosthetic limb.
Zaarah was diagnosed with bone cancer in August 2020 and the community rallied to help save her leg.
Sadly, the cancer spread too rapidly and doctors had to amputate to stop the disease from spreading to the rest of her body.
Mom Lizette Baartman says Zaarah has been in remission since January 21, 2021 and is going strong.
“She is in Grade 6 at Cavalleria Primary School in Scottsdene and her dream is to become a doctor.”
She says Zaarah’s talent for swimming was spotted in December: “We spoke to her about taking up music lessons, but she declined.
“Then on our wedding anniversary, December 22, we saw her floating on a foam board in the pool and my husband Daniel said, ‘Zaarah means business with this swimming’.”
At the time, Daniel said Zaarah could not use her prosthetic leg because of another setback.
“She was having a surgery, and that put her a little down.
“We heard about the Foxy Swimming School in Eikendal and reached out to owner Michael Foxley, who offered Zaarah free swimming lessons.”
Swim instructor Robin Foxley is already impressed with Zaarah’s efforts: “This was only her second lesson in the swimming pool but let me tell you, she is our very own Natalie du Toit.”