Hurt boy keeps promise to God

2008-04-04 09:30

Christel Raubenheimer

Pretoria - Jaco van Deventer promised God he would stop playing rugby if only he could walk again.

His prayer was answered and Jaco, 18, who broke his neck on Monday in a rugby tackle, will stop playing rugby.

"The moment I was hurt, I immediately prayed and said, 'Lord, I'll stop playing rugby if only I can walk.'

"I'll stop playing,'" said Jaco on Thursday from his hospital bed in MuelMed Hospital in Pretoria.

According to the neurosurgeon who treated Jaco, the young man will be able to walk again, thanks to the work of Netcare's emergency services personnel.

The matric pupil from Piet Potgieter High School in Mokopane (Potgietersrus) was taking part in rugby practice on Monday as part of the Amajuba Rugby Week in Volksrust, when he hit an opponent's leg during a tackle and broke his neck.

"I got a big fright; there were pins and needles throughout my body," he said.

Father was there

Jaco's father, Gert, was next to the field when his son fell and didn't get up.

"You don't want to know," was all Gert would say when asked how he felt when his son didn't get up.

Emergency services personnel reached Jaco within seconds and stabilised him on a stretcher.

He was first taken to a hospital in Volksrust, then to one in Newcastle before being transferred to MuelMed.

Gert said: "They (the emergency services personnel) were over-careful the whole time.

"In places where the roads were bad, they drove between 30km/h and 40km/h so that he wouldn't be jolted."

Gert and his wife, Amy, and Jaco's 16-year-old twin brothers, Louw and Nico, have been keeping him company constantly while he has been in hospital.

Amy said: "The neurosurgeon said that it (the fact that Jaco can walk) was thanks to the paramedics from Netcare."

Jaco, a Blue Bulls' supporter, described the fact that he could walk as a miracle.

- Beeld