Chris Jordaan (right), with his sisters Elizé and older brother, Johann. (Photo: Provided)
The Boishaai rugby player who was seriously injured during a rugby match in Pretoria earlier this month hurt is, is still in the intensive care unit of the Muelmed hospital – but 16-year-old Chris Jordaan is showing good recovery.
“We wait and wait and wait and we take one day at a time,” said his father, also Chris, on Friday.
The Hoër Jongenskool Paarl challenged the Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool (Affies) on April 4 in the North-South rugby tournament when Chris, a grade 11 student at Boishaai and the first team’s eight-man, during the match, took a hard hit against the suffered a head injury.
He suffered bleeding on the brain and was rushed to a Pretoria hospital where he underwent an operation later that evening. He is still being treated at Muelmed Hospital.
Chris se anesthesia has been gradually reduced over the past while and doctors cleaned his lungs after he had contracted a lung infection earlier. They will probably do it again within the next few days, says Chris Sr..
“The doctors are satisfied. We would like to get him out of the intensive care unit, but the doctors are taking it slow – as they should.
“We are excited and positive.”
Chris Sr. has meanwhile returned to the Paarl, where the family lives, while mother Dané watches over her youngest son’s bedside. In Paarl, Chris looks after the couple’s other children, Johann (19), also an “Old Boy”, and sister Elizé (10).
Doctors advised the family that Chris jr. travel at all at this stage.
The ventilator to which Chris is still connected will hopefully be removed early next week and the young man is expected to be transferred from the intensive care unit directly to the hospital’s rehabilitation centre.
Chris Sr. say they continue to receive incredible support from people across the country reaching out and offering to help, while messages of get well continue to pour in.
“The Jordaan family remains in our prayers,” Affies also said in his newsletter this week.
“A special word of thanks to Dr. Henry Kelbrick who played a cardinal role in giving the boy the necessary medical care already on the field and then ensuring that he received the best treatment.
“Thank you also to all the parents who supported Chris’s family,” reads the school’s message.
