Cape Town - Travonne Rhoda is finally going home after spending about three years in hospital.
The 6-year-old was diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans, also known as popcorn lung, which obstructs the smallest airways in the lungs, in 2017.
He has since been in and out of hospital until he was admitted in 2018 and spent about three years there.
His mother, Simone Rhoda, said it has been very hard for them as a family and especially for Travonne, who had to be without his family.
She said he has been on life support six times and they thought they were going to lose him.
“The whole time he was in hospital has been very stressful for us but we had to keep the faith and people’s prayers helped us a lot,” she said.
Simone said her son wants to be home with his family and he has only seen his older brother twice since Covid-19.
She said it was going to be a huge challenge for them because there would be a lot of changes in the household but they would get through them.
“I’m very emotional about him finally coming home because I’ve been scared most of the time,” she said.
Group marketing manager at Melomed Private Hospitals, Shameema Adams, said Travonne had been with them for years now and was constantly being checked to see if he was not ready to be discharged.
She said his doctors, after assessing him this last time, gave the go ahead for him to go home to his family.
Adams said the doctors would manage and assess his progress at home, and that for now he needed oxygen and that had been provided for him.
“It’s exciting that he is finally going home and the nurses who have been looking after him over the years will have a cake farewell for him,” said Adams.
Weekend Argus