When partly paralysed stroke patient Cecil September plugged in the electrical cable and held tight to the bare wires, he prayed as he waited to die. Instead, within hours, he had fully recovered.
The astonishing phenomenon has baffled doctors who have treated the Lentegeur man.
It sounds like a bizarre tale from a "believe it or not" television show - but September's firm handshake and the spring in his step are proof that cannot be ignored.
September suffered two severe strokes, one in December 2000 and a second in March last year, which robbed him of his ability to speak and left him with no use of his right hand and a stiff right leg.
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'I knew there was no way I was going to be able to make ends meet if I was boarded' His doctor was arranging for him to be medically boarded from his job.
September made up his mind.
"I sent my children outside to play. I was just sitting there and I knew there was no way I was going to be able to make ends meet if I was boarded," he said.
He shows a plug attached to an electrical wire with two bare ends.
"I plugged it in, switched it on and held the two wires, one in each hand, as I prayed. It shocked me and I felt it going through me but then the electricity in the house tripped.
'This was an acute recovery in just a few hours' "I sat up slowly, unplugged the plug with my left hand and walked slowly outside. I walked round the corner and as I walked I realised I could bend my leg. Then I started running, and I ran right to Mnandi Beach and jumped in the sea with all my clothes on," September said.
Then he ran all the way home again, slowly exercising his right hand all the way.
His doctor, Faiez van der Schyff, who has treated September since 1988, said the stroke was a "one over five", or "very severe".
"He was completely dazed when I saw him after his treatment at G F Jooste and Groote Schuur hospitals. He had been discharged. His right side was virtually useless and his mouth completely skew.
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