Hanged boy has brain damage
2005-07-28 08:12
Philip de Bruin
Johannesburg - Jovan Smit, the 10-year-old who hanged himself from the burglar bars in the changerooms at Hermanstad Primary School, has brain damage.
Wednesday was a day of good and bad news for his mother, Daleen Smit.
The fact that her son did, in fact, have brain damage, even if he was breathing by himself now that the ventilator had been disconnected, had been a setback for her.
"The doctors did an electroencephalogram (EEG) on Tuesday evening to make 100% sure his brain was OK and then told me that Jovan did, in fact, have brain damage.
"Additional tests to determine the exact extent will be conducted on Wednesday."
But this bad news hasn't fazed Smit because there is good news, too.
"With the aid of a nurse, Jovan could get out of bed for the first time since the incident last Tuesday, and he even took a couple of steps while they held him.
"He also said his first audible couple of words. When I bent over him, my pendant touched his bare chest. I distinctly heard him say 'Pendant cold'.
"This all proves that the damage to his brain can't be that bad, or what? That's why I'm not going to give up hope.
"And he really tucked into his favourite food, jelly! My fiancé, Jurie Meyer, fed it to him bit by bit."
The results of the latest brain tests were not known by late Wednesday afternoon.
- Beeld