TB activist to hear again
With only days to go before the deadline, activists from TB Proof have raised the R230,000 needed for Phumeza Tisile to have cochlear implants. The operation will give Tisile, a tuberculosis patient turned activist, the opportunity to hear again.
Tisile was cured of drug resistant TB in August 2013. Since then 24-year-old from Khayelitsha has campaigned alongside doctors from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) for better and less harmful drugs to be developed for the treatment of drug resistant TB. In May this year she took her plea to the 67th World Health Assembly in Geneva along with a petition containing 55,000 signatures.
There she spoke of the “life-destroying” side effects of the drugs she received in state care. Injections of a drug called kanamycin resulted in her becoming completely deaf.
It is that profile of selfless advocacy, coupled with media exposure, that encouraged funders (most of whom were ordinary people) to make pledges of financial and moral support, says doctor Dalene von Delft, of TB proof, who headed up the #DefeatTheSilence campaign.
The fundraisers were racing towards a 23 January deadline, when a special on bilateral cochlear implants was set to expire. Tygerberg Hospital, where the specialist cochlear implant unit is situated, helped to raise around half of the money required for the operation, which is due to take place on 20 February.
Speaking to GroundUp on Thursday, Tisile sent out a word of ‘thanks’ to the donors.
“I look forward to sounds like people chatting, dogs barking and most of all my favourite type of music - house music,” she said.
“It also means that I’ll be able to return to university to complete my studies.”
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