Chord piece for man turning at death | Rhewal

Jaco and Rosslyn after the Ironman 70.3 challenge. (Photo provided)

It was an ordinary Monday afternoon on 21 December 2020. Jaco Steenkamp, ​​a young physiotherapist, was in his Volkswagen Polo from Barkly-Oos in the Eastern Cape on his way to his parents’ house in Wildernis. The sun shone brightly, as the sun can only shine in December, but while he was driving in the Outenikwas, the rain came down. The road was busy and Jaco just drove patiently behind a stream of cars. At a passing place, he switched on his flashing light and moved over to the right lane. He stepped on the gas and suddenly he felt the back of the car begin to slide. His instinctive reaction was to avoid a collision with the car on his left, but his Polo spun and ended up in the path of oncoming traffic. An oncoming vehicle hit Jaco’s Polo on the left.

Jaco can remember everything well. “After my car came to a stop, I immediately knew something big was wrong because I couldn’t breathe. I immediately wanted to get out of the car and opened the door, but it felt like I couldn’t move. I was able to take a few steps, but then I fell down. The impact of the collision was so great that it knocked the breath out of my lungs and I suddenly couldn’t breathe. One thing was definitely a blessing. As a physical therapist, I could feel that it was the left side of my lungs that was hurting. I also knew I had to stay calm now and not hyperventilate. For the next few minutes I just focused on breathing with the healthy side of my lungs. The driver of the vehicle that hit me was there immediately. A mother and a daughter who came from Oudtshoorn also stopped. Fortunately, I was able to tell them that I have a good medical aid, and that I can therefore be taken to any private hospital in George,” says Jaco.

In the meantime, he also gave the woman who came to help him the phone number of his mother, Talitha, but he knew she had Covid, and would therefore not be able to come to the scene of the accident. His sister, also Talitha, and her fiancé Arno Fourie were in Mossel Bay and rushed to the scene of the accident. At George MediClinic, Jaco was still able to tell the nursing staff in the casualty unit that he had a piece of glass in one of his eyes and that they should please take it out. From there, things got progressively worse for him, largely because he was given morphine. The pain was unbearable.

Four surgeries in four days

Early the next morning he was taken to the operating theater so that his torn diaphragm could be repaired. Some of his organs also moved, and they were moved back into position and his ruptured spleen was repaired. What the medics didn’t realize is that Jaco started bleeding internally after this operation. He went back to theater on Tuesday afternoon to try to stop the bleeding. After a second operation to stop the bleeding was unsuccessful, the doctor who was taking care of Jaco called a professor at the Free State University. They said they had to fill his abdomen with swabs so that the bleeding could stop. This operation was then done very early on Wednesday morning. For his parents, Francois and Talitha, it was a weighty decision to make to grant the necessary permission for the operation. This would be the third operation in 24 hours and there was really no hope left for Jaco. Shortly before the operation, his blood pressure was a precarious 32 over 22 which is actually no longer viable. His heart also stopped during the second operation, but after an electric shock it started beating again. Francois and Talitha wisely decided to leave it in the hands of the Lord, and gave the necessary authorization.

“The reason for the internal bleeding was my ribs that broke so badly. There were sharp points and every time they pumped new blood into me, the veins were cut open again and I started bleeding all over again. A fourth operation followed, this time on Christmas morning, and only after this did the doctors inform my parents that the bleeding had stopped,” says Jaco.

From the first moment the news of Jaco’s accident broke, his extended family, his colleagues and friends began to pray. In these first few days after the accident, Jaco’s parents were called to the hospital twice when it looked like he was going to die. Now, on Christmas morning, there was a little hope for the first time. Still, he would be on a ventilator for several more days – 18 days in total. At that time his kidneys also stopped functioning and he had to receive dialysis. Jaco was sedated all the way, but the doctors hoped that he would start to recover after a week. However, it took two weeks before he became aware of what was going on around him. Finally, on January 14, he was transferred from the intensive care unit to a regular ward and when he managed to take a few steps with a walking frame, he was discharged and could go back to his parents’ home.

“I had terrible nightmares while I was in the coma, and in each of the nightmares I had to fight for my life in various ways. At times I was in my dreams up in Africa, like the time when I was a tour guide. Then I had to fight several monsters. The people closest to me all made a turn in my nightmares: my parents, my friend Henkie and my friend Rosslyn van Schoor. We were then together for about nine months. Actually, the dream Roz was in was the best one because I dreamed I asked her to marry me, but first I had to fight for my life.”

“If something like this happens to a person, it is probably only human to ask: ‘Why did I survive this?’ Why did the woman who lay next to me in intensive care the first night, and whose injuries weren’t that bad, die, but I lived on? She was also in a car accident. When you hear afterwards that your blood pressure was 32 over 22, when you hear about all the times they had to inject you with adrenaline to keep your heart beating, when you hear about the 19 pints of blood you received, then a one can only be sincerely grateful. Then you must see the Lord’s hand in the events. Today, I believe the accident meant so much to other people’s faith. This is proof that anything is possible, provided one prays and believes. It was not my own prayers, for I could not pray, but all who knew me. Even friends of my friends prayed. I believe when I finally walked out of the hospital without any lasting damage, it strengthened many people’s faith,” says Jaco.

Jaco should have started working in a position at the Humansdorp hospital at the beginning of January 2021. He completed his community service year the previous year in Barkly-Oos. On 1 April 2021, Jaco was finally able to step into his new position, but difficult times awaited because he soon became very tired. Many lunches he simply lay on his arms and slept. Jaco slowly but surely regained his strength. Sometimes he simply went to the beach with his dog Barkly. Roz’s father bought them a canoe and the two also started paddling. After all, Jaco still had a big goal in mind: the Ironman 70.3 challenge.

A new challenge awaited

Jaco and Henkie van Zyl both completed the Ironman 70.3 this year. (Photo provided)

“Me and my friend from primary school days, Henkie van Zyl, decided in 2019 to take on this challenge. This is the so-called half ironman competition: 1.8 km swimming in the sea, 90 km on a road bike and 21.1 km you have to run. We once ran into a school friend of ours at a hangout, and he then told us that he had successfully completed it. If he can do it, so can we, we decided. In 2020, Covid-19 came and our plans were ruined with it. At the end of 2020 I had my accident, so it couldn’t happen in 2021 either. In 2022 Henkie and I signed up for the Ironman 70.3 in Durban. Believe it or not, then the floods hit Durban and there is too much E.Coli in the water and the races are called off. After that, this year’s 70.3 in Port Elizabeth was our target,” says Jaco.

He bought a second-hand road bike and started cycling. Because he has never, according to him, been a strong swimmer, he also focused on that. What makes this 1.8 km swim so difficult is that you have to swim it in the sea and it is very different from in a swimming pool. Henkie already did a 70.3 in 2022, and he was then able to tell Jaco exactly what to do and how to get everything ready.

The morning of 5 March 2023 was hot and muggy when the athletes lined up for the competition early in the morning. The first leg is always the swim in the sea. Jaco laughs and says he kind of shot himself in the foot there, because he believed one should swim with a swimsuit, but his swimsuit was actually one intended for scuba diving. In addition, a bit too big and particularly heavy. Fortunately, at least he was able to successfully complete the swimming section. When he later got to the jogging section, a guy who was jogging with him said to him: “I hear there’s a poor p*&pol who went swimming in a Reef swimsuit.” Jaco just laughed. “I was the poor p*&pol,” he said dryly.

Ultimately, he completed the race in 5 hours, 59 minutes and 30 seconds. An incredible chord piece for someone who literally turned around at death two years before. With this performance, he definitely proved that he is an iron man.

Jaco and Roslynn on their wedding day, March 25. (Photo provided)

“The moment I ran under the banner at the finish line was unforgettable. It was not only joy about the races I successfully completed, but also about the fact that I could put the whole accident and everything that happened behind me. I was again the Jaco I was before the accident.

“There is so much gratitude for everyone who was there for me when I was sick. Roz, my parents, family and friends all played a very big role throughout. There were even people at work who supported me all the way. I am also incredibly grateful that there was no one in the car with me that day, not even my dog ​​Barkly. He was already safe at my parent’s house.

“After my accident, I definitely have a different outlook on life. It made me realize that you have to use the opportunities that the Lord gives you every day. You never know when it’s your last day on earth. Use everything the Lord gives you to the best of your ability, do what you can and never be lazy and say I will do it tomorrow. That tomorrow may never come.”

Postscript: Jaco and his beautiful Rosslyn were married on Saturday 25 March this year on a game farm just outside Jeffreys Bay.