An East London teenager who relied on an electricity-powered oxygen supply to stay alive, has died from lung failure, her family said.
The family revealed that load shedding destroyed her soul.
The 18 -year-old teenager Unakho Kewana, who died from lung failure on Wednesday (9 November) took to social media in October to appeal for a solar-powered energy supply in order to survive load shedding.
Kewana died at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital on Wednesday from long-term lung complications.
Her weakened lungs had forced her to drop out of school in grade 9 in 2019, shattering her dreams of someday becoming a lawyer.
Doctor’s told the family that the teenager had also been suffering from depression, close friends believe the depression was caused by load shedding.
Kewana reportedly hated being rushed to hospital for oxygen support every time there were power cuts in her NU13 Mdantsane area.
Her aunt Ntombizanele Kwenane said: “We knew the load shedding schedule and whenever it was close to the scheduled hour for the power to cut off, she would panic and start sweating and shaking because so many things could go wrong. She knew that she would not make it on time to hospital in NU6, she would take her last breath.”
Kwenane said that at times, after the power had been restored, Unakho would return home by taxi or with an ambulance, only for the electricity to be cut off again minutes after the transport had left.
Kwenane said: “All of this was too stressful for Unakho and the entire family. Her oxygen used too much electricity too and we would struggle to buy it. The frequent power cuts really destroyed her soul. She stopped eating normally in mid-October because the issue of power cuts was really getting to her.”
Her aunt added that her niece recently saw a patient on oxygen support die in front of her in the hospital, which affected her emotional state too.
Unakho will be buried next Saturday.
Source: The South African, News24, image from Twitter: @Mehmetvefadag
