Durban - After laying in a hospital bed for the past three months after being struck on the head by a rock, a KwaDukuza woman may be returning home this week, in what her family calls a “miracle recovery”.
Sashni Daniel, 27, suffered massive head trauma when a rock was thrown at the car she was travelling in during a violent Shaka’s Head service delivery protest on the R102 in February.
Residents of a nearby township were angry as they had been without electricity for 11 hours after the KwaDukuza Municipality’s electricians had allegedly been stopped from working overtime.
Daniel, a sales consultant at a jewellery store, had to undergo multiple brain surgeries and she suffered a stroke, contracted meningitis and an abscess developed on the brain. But now, she is on the road to recovery.
She was transferred from Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital to the high-care female surgical ward at Stanger Hospital last week.
Her father, Kovlan Daniel, said doctors had initially said she had a 50/50 chance of recovery. Never losing faith, her family continued praying.
“We have been praying for the last three months for her to be out of the danger-zone, and with God’s will she is. Although she is speaking now, she is still a bit disorientated and does not recall much of the incident,” he said.
“She is also bed-bound and will have to continue physiotherapy. When she returns home she will need occupational and speech therapy.
Kovlan, who is disabled, said Sashni had been the family’s breadwinner and they had since been struggling, but were grateful for the community’s support they had been receiving.
“There has been a few businesses and people who have been helping us with donations, which also aided us to travel and visit her in hospital.
“We are also grateful to Umhlali SAPS Captain Vinny Pillay who has been supportive towards the family and rallied to get us donations.
“He also helped us in obtaining an orthopaedic bed sponsored by a lovely lady. We are finally feeling a sense of relief after all this trauma our child went through,” he said.
“We just want the ‘all-clear’ from the doctor, so we can take her home.”