Tiny Tornado’s big miracle
Mom and dad, both doctors, tell Estelle Ellis about the harrowing near-drowning of their joyful young son
W HEN beloved Port Elizabeth paediatric cardiologist, fierce advocate for the city’s children and devoted dad, Dr Lungile Pepeta, received a string of please-call-me messages as he was waiting to board a flight to Port Elizabeth last month, he wanted to ignore them.
It was the close of a getaway weekend with his wife and fellow doctor, Vuyo Gasa-Pepeta. Their kids were left in the care of family members and their trusted nanny.
“My wife said ‘phone and find out what they want’.”
It was news every parent dreads.
His 18-month-old son Lungako had been found floating in the family’s swimming pool, not breathing and ice-cold – and Life St George’s Hospital doctors were fighting to save him.
Lungako is a joyful little soul. He has not started talking yet, but when his dad picks up his cellphone, Lungako mimics him exactly – using the television remote. He is a big Rihanna fan, but will quickly switch the television off if there is rap or hip-hop.
He is all smiles and twinkly eyes when his mommy picks him up.
The family have nicknamed the busy little boy “The Tornado”.
“When you get news like that, you can’t think the worst. You have to keep hoping,” Pepeta said.
Fellow pediatrician Dr Johani Vermeulen, who specialises in oncology, later said they had all been “mute with terror”.
As doctors they knew the statistics – almost nobody made it out of a near-drowning like that unscathed and alive.
“We were so scared that we couldn’t even pray,” Gasa-Pepeta said. “I phoned a friend of mine who is also a doctor so that my boy would have someone there if he was scared. Thank God so many others were praying for us. I just remember that I couldn’t hear what the pilot said. I kept asking how long is this flight still going to be?” In Port Elizabeth, the couple was rushed to hospital, where Dr Wayne Jones was on call.
“Wayne is the doctor I trust to look after my ‘heart babies’ when I cannot be around,” Pepeta said.
As Jones and several nurses worked on Lungako, Pepeta’s phone did not stop ringing.
“People were phoning from everywhere with advice and prayers,” Pepeta said.
Gasa-Pepeta said: “All anybody wanted to know was how was his brain? “I couldn’t care about his brain. I just wanted my baby back.”
By the time the couple got to the hospital Lungako was breathing by himself.
Gasa-Pepeta said as they started hearing what had happened, she had known that God’s hand was over her child.
Pepeta’s nephew, who was trained in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), had been at the house, by chance, as he was helping to change a tyre on a car.
“He was here when they found Lungako. He got Lungako breathing again and kept him breathing until they were at the hospital,” Gasa-Pepeta said.
Pepeta said he was completely humbled by the support and prayers for his family.
“Never in my life did I think that so many people even knew us,” he said. “Everybody started prayer groups for our son – the nurses at Dora Nginza Hospital, Livingstone Hospital, Provincial Hospital, Life St George’s Hospital and Netcare Greenacres.
“Everybody was praying. We are so incredibly grateful.”
He came home one day to find an elderly woman he had never seen before kneeling at his swimming pool, praying.
“She said she had seen the cars and known we were home, so she had thought she would come and say a prayer for our son.”
Grannies from both sides came to Port Elizabeth to see their grandson.
“I said to my mom, you mustn’t cry when you see him,” Gasa-Pepeta said. “It didn’t help. We all cried. She said: ‘When I cry it will be tears of joy’.”
Meanwhile, Lungako was fighting for his life in the neo-natal intensive care unit at Life St George’s Hospital under the watchful eye of unit manager sister Pat Myburgh.
At the NICU, the nurses themselves needed a miracle.
“They had a bad run,” Pepeta said.
“They had to look after many babies who were ill and not getting better. There was lots of bad news in that unit.
“Until Lungako came, I have never even heard of a child who survived a near-drowning and had no brain complications. I almost still cannot believe it.”
While Pepeta described, in clinical detail, how his son had got worse and better again, he said it had been a struggle for him to think like a dad and not a doctor.
“I tried not to interfere. With the babies I care for, I want them to be on the ventilator for as short a time as possible. I did say that was what we wanted. But I really tried not to interfere,” he laughed.
Meanwhile, apart from looking after Lunga, Jones also took over the care of Pepeta’s patients at St George’s.
“I am so grateful to him. I just couldn’t be a doctor for that week,” Pepeta said.
Lungako, meanwhile, was living up to his nickname “The Tornado” and surpassed all expectations, recovering very fast and removing pipes and electrodes needed to monitor him as fast as he could.
“When they removed the ventilator the nurses still came to warn us about possible brain damage. We were all crying when we realised he was fine,” Pepeta said.
Life St George’s Hospital manager Alex Daneel said: “When Lungako Pepeta was admitted to our hospital, our hearts went out to Dr Pepeta and his family.
“I have been told that there were tears and squeals of joy when Lungako responded to treatment and especially when he began pressing the buttons of his toy guitar!
“Our staff are passionate about what they do and when any patient has suffered a tragic accident, they do everything in their power to achieve a positive outcome. This was the case with Lungako and I can only thank my team for their intervention and professionalism.”
Pepeta said nurses had warned him while they were preparing to take Lungako home that he might suffer from muscle weakness.
“My boy walked out of that NICU all by himself with a whole group of nurses following him. He truly is our little miracle,” he said.
“Even today when he does something funny I take a video and I go and show them. He is their miracle too.”
Pepeta and Gasa-Pepeta said they had been incredibly impressed with the care that their child received.
“I want to say thank you to everyone who assisted and prayed for us. I am so grateful to God for saving my boy,” Gasa-Pepeta said.
“Thank you. The ‘Tornado’ is back.”