50,000th person screened shows early detection is vital
Seventy-year-old Nondladiya Silibumvu, our 50,000th person screened, never suspected she was suffering from hypertension. What she did notice, however, was an increasing lack of energy, flexibility, dizziness and “something” she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
Chatting to DWF embedded chows Vatiswa Pantshwa and Bongiwe Mayekiso (pictured above), Nondladiya laughed as she recalled how she used to run away and hide from DWF screening CHOWs as she believed at the time “they were wasting her time”.
But now I’m feeling so much better since I started the treatment.”
A naturally gregarious comic who enjoys company, Nondladiya enacted her newly-found spring in her step to the hilarity of her family members and friends.
Her first screening revealed her blood pressure was 170/100 and following her referral to a local clinic (which confirmed she was hypertensive), Nondladiya was placed on medication. Subsequent follow-up visits have revealed her BP as having stabilised and remaining at far healthier levels.
Nondladiya is a traditional herbalist. She spends most of her free time locating and harvesting medicinal plants which grow in the wild around her homestead at eMazizini in the Mbashe district.
She said the treatment had made a tremendous difference to her life and she would advocate everyone make use of the programme.
“If the programme has been helpful to me, perhaps it can help others too.”