Pippie foundation to help burn victim
2013-02-22 10:45
Video
2013-01-23 10:17
Three year old Pippie Kruger survived full body burns and is making a remarkable recovery with new glasses and a specialised teeth guard. Watch.WATCH
Johannesburg - A 5-year-old girl who sustained horrific
burns to her body last year will undergo the same high-tech skin transplant as
Pippie Kruger, thanks to a donation from her foundation, according to a report
on Friday.
Celiwe Maseko's dress caught alight when a burning match
fell on it, and she suffered burns to her back, stomach and thighs.
"I didn't think there was any hope," her mother
Katlego Maseko told Beeld.
The "Pippie's Gesiggie" Foundation said it would
pay R240 600 for Celiwe's new skin, which, just like Pippie's, will be grown in
a laboratory by Genzyme in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr Ridwan Mia, Pippie Kruger's surgeon, and also Celiwe
Maseko's doctor, said the surface area of burns was much larger with Pippie.
"One would think I'm less nervous, because I've already
performed this operation once. In fact I'm more nervous than ever," Mia
said.
Initially, two samples of Celiwe's skin will be sent to the
USA to be cultivated.
Pippie Kruger, 3, underwent her groundbreaking skin graft in
June 2012, just six months after her accident, when cloned skin was
transplanted onto her body.
She has survived five
heart attacks, kidney failure, pneumonia and over 45 operations.
- SAPA
