VIDEO: Gunshot survivor, 8, back home
Brave little Cilvanio Draai came out of hospital to a hero’s welcome in Helenvale, writes Estelle Ellis in Hospitals of Hope this week. THERE is a new hero in Pienaar Street, Helenvale. He is eight years old, with a wide, gap- toothed smile and a new haircut. He is the boy who refused to be destroyed by the senseless and violent gang war in Port Elizabeth’s northern areas.
Cilvanio Draai was shot near his house in crossfire between gang members on November 4 while playing cricket outside. The bullet went into his chest, destroyed his spleen, damaged several internal organs and exited at his side. For weeks Cilvanio fought to live – first at Netcare Greenacres Hospital’s accident and emergency unit and then at the intensive care unit (ICU).
Some of Nelson Mandela Bay’s most well-known doctors, paediatric cardiologist Dr Lungile Pepeta, pediatrician Dr Greg Boden and surgeons Dr Nico van Niekerk and Dr David Porter, battled for days to save him, removing the little boy’s spleen and performing surgery to stop his internal bleeding.
It was during this time that Cilvanio’s brave fight stole the heart of mayor Danny Jordaan, who visited his parents in Helenvale shortly after the incident and also visited Cilvanio in ICU. Jordaan also mentioned the little boy’s recovery when he spoke about restoring hope at Livingstone Hospital’s Excellence Awards.
Warriors captain Colin Ingram and seam bowler Basheer Walters also popped in to visit Cilvanio, bringing him a new cricket kit and Warriors shirt, while Walters also gave the boy his own Warriors cap.
On Monday last week, after a month in ICU and two days in a general ward, Cilvanio finally came home to a hero’s welcome.
“The house was so full,” his mom Mary-Anne Draai said. “Everybody was here – the people from the street, all his aunties, all his friends.”
In his parents’ immaculate little house, his mom proudly displayed his Parkside Primary School Grade 1 pictures and pictures of him and his sister with Father Christmas.
“Cilvanio is doing well now,” Cilvanio’s father Cilvan Charles said. “We took him for a haircut this morning. “I will be forever thankful to the nurses and doctors who saved my son. We really appreciate it.
“We are also very grateful for everybody who helped us with transport to the hospital. “I was going to see Cilvanio one day and one of the doctors who worked there that night asked how he was.
“The doctor told me that the nurses and doctors at the accident and emergency unit performed miracles to save him that day he was shot.” Cilvanio, who does not talk a lot, said he still dreamed of one day playing cricket on the field. “I am doing well,” he said yesterday. Sheldon Fisher, 18, and Antonio Plaatjies, 19, were arrested for the alleged attempted murder of Cilvanio.
“So far they have applied for bail twice, but they haven’t been successful,” Charles said. Netcare Greenacres Hospital general manager André Bothma said Cilvanio’s courage had captured the hearts of everyone at the hospital.
“He is such a brave little boy and a real fighter,” Bothma said. “It was an absolute privilege to have him as a patient in our hospital and he crept into the hearts of everyone involved in his treatment. “We wish him and his family a blessed festive season and only the best for the future.”
