MAN ON A MISSION
MAN ON A MISSION
Not even a serious, sudden illness could stop Nhliziyo Sibiya from acing his Matric exams and realising his dreams.
I wasn’t always focused on my schoolwork,” says Nhliziyo Sibiya. “But when I started to take it more seriously, my results just got better and better.” Sitintile Secondary is a small school in Kanyamazane, a local community on the outskirts of Mbombela, Mpumalanga. Here, Nhliziyo saw his sister excel in her own exams, and was inspired to give his own studies “a little more attention”
Shortly after writing his first paper, Nhliziyo noticed a bump beginning to form on the right side of his neck, under his jawline. “I thought it was a minor thing; an immune response or something like that,” he says. “But it didn’t go away, and it started to grow.”
That renewed focus would see him achieve six distinctions – in mathematics, physical science, accounting, life orientation, life science and English – through significant adversity.
Shortly after writing his first paper, Nhliziyo noticed a bump beginning to form on the right side of his neck, under his jawline. “I thought it was a minor thing; an immune response or something like that,” he says. “But it didn’t go away, and it started to grow.”
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Concerning results
The results were concerning, says Dr Pieter Scheepers, an oral and maxillofacial surgeon who attended to Nhliziyo. “We did MRI and CT scans on the same day and managed to confirm he had a large mass in the lymph node in his neck. Something was causing an infection, which led to an abscess.”
At that point, it was difficult to understand what had caused the mass, and Dr Scheepers and his team decided to start on a conservative treatment.
That treatment involved draining the abscess and prescribing a short, strong dose of infection-fighting antibiotics. Carefully monitoring Nhliziyo’s symptoms over the next five days, Dr Scheepers administered a course of medications, including painkillers and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
Nhliziyo didn’t miss a single exam during this time, as his aunt collected him each morning and drove him to school, 35 minutes away.
Improving condition
Over the course of that week, Nhliziyo’s condition improved, as the medicines helped boost his immune response and the abscess cleared.
“It was a stressful time because I was worried it might be cancer,” says Nhliziyo. “And I was worried that all of this might influence my grades. But at the hospital, everyone was very open with me. The moment they knew something, or had results or saw an improvement, they told me. They explained everything very clearly, and that kept me optimistic.”
The Mediclinic Nelspruit team was committed to providing excellent but conservative care, to ensure Nhliziyo was able to complete his exams.
Family played a big role, too. “Everyone in my family knew what was happening,” says Nhliziyo, “and they all wanted to know every detail, and to see if they could help in some way. I was getting 15, 20 phone calls a day, visits; it was amazing.”
Today, Nhliziyo is in residence at the University of Cape Town, studying towards a degree in software engineering. “My parents have never been down here before, so they are sometimes anxious about the distance, but they’re very proud.”
