DURBAN - GOD and a MiWay consultant saved the life of a Durban woman last year.
That’s what Bridgette Fuller, 45, told Nkosinathi Botlhokwane, 27, last month when the pair met for the first time since Fuller’s near-death accident last year.
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showing how Botlhokwane helped Fuller, from Wentworth, in the aftermath of a car accident in Durban has been airing on TV for several weeks.
He went beyond the call of duty after he was alerted to the crash when he called in authorities to help. Each day, the insurance consultant would call her family, making sure Fuller was recovering from her physical and emotional trauma, encouraging her with hopeful messages over the phone even though she wouldn't be able to respond because of the severity of her injuries.
“If it wasn’t for you and God, I would have been dead,” said Fuller to Botlhokwane as she clutched onto him.
The pair met last month in Durban. MiWay is expected to air footage of the tearful meeting.
Still holding a walking-aid, Fuller is in awe as she comes face-to-face with the man whose voice had been a source of comfort through her recovery.
Watch: Bridgette and Nkosinathi meet in person
The advert shows Botlhokwane go the extra mile to help Bridget through her recovery, speaking regularly to her loved ones, to support them too, while Bridget is in a coma for six months.
The accident happened on May 15 last year, as Fuller was driving on Umgeni Road in Durban when a car crash occurred.
Fuller told the Sunday Tribune that Botlhokwane was her hero, and now considered her part of her family.
Botlhokwane, who joined MiWay as a consultant in 2010, first called Fuller at the scene of the accident, and then never stopped calling to make sure she was well.
He said: “We have developed a strong bond. It was important for me to be there through her recovery and offer emotional support.”
“I would phone and speak to her even though she couldn’t talk back,” he said.
When Fuller awakened from her six-month coma and began physiotherapy, Botlhokwane sent her flowers.
“I’ve developed bonds with many of our clients, sometimes through a simple call to just know they made it safely home when they were stuck on the road in the middle of the night. I want to leave this world in a better state than as it was when I arrived,” he said.
Botlhokwane grew up in a rural village in the North West province.
He never knew his parents
“My mother died before I could know her, and I never knew my father either. My older brother Stuart supported me through life,” he said.
Stuart died two years ago at the age of 32.
“My brother taught me that the key to growing yourself is education. And that’s all I focused myself on. I believe I have the ability to connect with people and I know I can use it the right way, to help them,” he said.