Help Sifiso get a Spinal Cord Surgery

Gift Sifiso Shabangu is a 19yr old boy from Ennerdale, Gauteng, South Africa.

In 2016, when he was in Grade 11, he was diagnosed with Kyphoscoliosis (Marfan Syndrome), a spinal cord condition, that many would know as a hunch back. However, his back is not only hunched, but curving sideways as well.

This caused him so much pain that his doctor suggested he drops out of school because he couldn't sit for long periods as the pain was unbearable and caused him to survive on painkillers.

Early 2017, he found a doctor at a public hospital in Bloemfontein, South Africa, who booked him for an operation in November of that year. He was admitted a few days earlier in hospital prior to the surgery. On the day he went to the theatre room, he was told to go back home as he did not have an ICU bed available for him and that they did not have enough equipment to operate him. Since then, it became gloomy for him.

We have tried to get him onto medical aid but because of his condition, they keep making it impossible.

He is very ambitious about life. He is working on starting a DJ-ing business while studying part-time. It is difficult because he always needs to be resting his spine most of the day.

His doctor says this procedure can cost over R200k, with post-op costs to keep in mind and we, the family, are really working hard on trying to raise those funds but it is not easy.

Your help with any donation will be greatly appreciated by the us, the Shabangu family.

Thank you for taking the time to read Sifiso Shabangu’s journey.

May the good Lord bless you.