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Actor faces lengthy recovery
27/08/2007 13:31 - (SA)
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| Actor Erik Holm on stage with fellow actor Peter Butler during a performance of Fiela se Kind. (Picture supplied) |
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Verashni Pillay
Pretoria - Actor Erik Holm was "making good progress" after breaking his neck on Friday, but doctors don't yet know if he will be paralysed for life, a spokesperson at MuelMed Medi-Clinic in Pretoria told News24 on Monday.
"He's going to be transferred to the rehabilitation unit at the clinic to begin his rehab," said Johann Dednam. "He has a C5 neck injury."
In an emergency operation on Saturday morning, the bone fragments of his fifth vertebra were removed and the fourth and sixth vertebrae were successfully fused.
Dednam added that the "final outcome of the injury" would be monitored, and that doctors could not tell at this stage whether Holm would be paralysed for life or not.
Holm will spend the next few months rehabilitating after the freak accident on Friday.
Diving accident
Holm, 25, was feared paralysed when he hit his head after diving into a man-made lake to retrieve a ball that he and a group of small children had been playing with.
The well-known 7de Laan actor was in the area to perform in a theatre production of Fiela se Kind which has been touring the country since March.
Producer Frans Swart told Rapport that Holm and fellow cast members Rika Sennett, Peter Butler, Cedwyl Joel and Chris van Niekerk had decided to play volleyball with local children after Friday's performance. There was a man-made lake on the premises.
"When the ball fell into the lake, Eric decided to dive in. He must have misjudged the depth of the water, because he hit the bottom of the lake and injured his neck," Swart said.
Holm was immediately taken to the Highveld Medi-clinic and later transferred to the hospital in Pretoria where his condition was described as serious but stable by Saturday evening.
A spokesperson for Lefra Productions, who are staging Fiela se Kind, said that the organisers of the production would be meeting to discuss continuing with the tour.
Five shows were scheduled in September at the Aardklop festival, in Potchefstroom.
Holm is the son of famed entomologist and author Professor Erik Holm.
- News24
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