Heiron's Art

I am Heiron Joseph, a quadriplegic male, 35 years of age. My story starts with a sour taste which gets sweetened up; starting 1st January 2005. 

Early life 

I was born in Springbok on the 30th November 1978 to my parents, Wilma Joseph (deceased) and Dawid Nel. My parents split up when I was aged six and I grew up with my grandparents, both deceased now.  I have five siblings, two sisters and three brothers. St Cyprians primary in Nababeep is where I attended school, from 1985-1992. I attended Weston High School in Vredenburg where I matriculated. Throughout my schooling I was an average student but no challenge was ever too big for me.

Career and life between 1996-2004 

After matriculating in 1996, I was awarded a bursary by Iscor Steel and left for Newcastle Natal, (KZN).  Here my troubles with alcohol started, being far from home and not supervised by a parent. It opened a can of worms. After a year of studying I started working at Saldanha Steel as a Process Expert. My career at the steel mill was short lived because of my battle with alcohol and drug abuse. 

Because of my drinking and drug abuse I fell into a trap where I was accused of rape by one of my girlfriends. It started a whole chain of events. I had to appear in court, which was embarrassing, starting from October ’98. I subsequently lost my job at the steel factory, where I had a bright future, due to alcohol abuse. At one stage I was so angry at life that I took a firearm, got intoxicated and started shooting at innocent people. Lucky for me nobody was injured and I tried to put the gun against my own head to free myself of everything that was going wrong for me at the time.  I couldn’t pull it off and carried in my old ways.

I crossed paths with the law again at a later stage, while still recovering from being accused of “rape’’… that’s how bad it got. After a speedy trial I was convicted for possession of a firearm and sentenced to five years in prison; suspended for 1 year. This happened late 1999.

My life became one big mess and for the next five years up until 2004 I would switch between jobs for better money to subsidize my lavish, extravagant and irresponsible lifestyle which involved drugs, alcohol and numerous lady partners.

 I basically lived for myself and didn’t care about the people I was hurting in the process. The people hardest hit was my guardians Ronald and Elizabeth who time and time again forgave me and sheltered me when I was hitting rock bottom. I was a self-centered bastard at the time; someone who had a lot going for himself without realizing it and without living to the full potential.

My friends were everything to me. Keeping them happy and being the center of attraction was the main goal. I didn’t have a real relationship with my younger sister Roxanne during her teens because of my lifestyle. She grew up without me guiding her as an older sibling, because I lost track of the important things and people in my life.

March 2003 saw me making a change in my life!!!  I walked past a big mirror and didn’t recognized myself and decided there and then that I should change my life. I gave up the use of narcotics (cocaine and cannabis), but still couldn’t part with my biggest destruction: ALCOHOL.  At that stage I’ve been to shrinks and had elderly close to me reprimanding me to slow down and to turn a new page for the better. Basically what took place now was that, by giving up narcotics, I started supplementing it by excessive drinking.

My normal work week would consist of spending eight hours at work and straight afterwards I would go to the nearest pub to relax. Weekends would pass when I could not even recollect what took place. I was a LOST soul in DENIAL. People would confront me about my drinking whereby I would just hit back at them, telling them that they were picking on me and that nothing was wrong. This routine carried on till the morning of the 1st January 2005.

Turn of events 

 

On the 1st January 2005 whilst still heavily intoxicated, I set off with friends to the Paternoster beach to celebrate the start of a new year. We were accompanied by plenty females as usual and there were no stop in sight to the partying. I wandered off with a female companion around 11h00 and on the way I had the urgent need to swim to sober up. My friend tried to stop me, but I was persistent and long before you would realize what had happened I was swimming towards a big rock about 30 meters away from shore.

I can still remember the water being icy cold and refreshing, but I had to show off.  Below is a picture of the rock where I dived off.

The rock opposite the big one where the people are relaxing was my liberation platform.

The moment I plunged into the water I just experienced a numbness, which was almost like getting cramps, because the water is really cold along the West Coast. It lasted for a couple of seconds before I lost consciousness. I was unaware of what was happening to me. I regained consciousness on the beach again after I was saved by a young man who was instructed by his granny to follow up on me, because I was underneath the water for too long.

I was a good swimmer back then, so my friends had nothing to worry about.  I lost consciousness again, and was informed later that I was taken to Vredenburg Hospital from where I was transferred to Groote Schuur Hospital. I woke up on the 3rd January 2005 where I was informed by doctors that I had a diving accident which left me paralyzed from the neck down. In reality they told me that my life would never be the same again…walking, adventures etc were all taboos from that moment on.

My brain was not large enough that moment to process everything that went through my mind. I was on life support, and therefore unable to ask the questions I wanted to ask. Denial kicked in as I tried hard to get up and move and reality at that moment was my BIGGEST ENEMY.

As my family started visiting me with tears in their eyes, especially my aunt who stood in for my late mother, made me realize the magnitude of my condition. All I wanted to hear was ‘’DON’T WORRY HEIRON IT’S ALL A DREAM’’, but those words never came my way, only words of prayer and comfort. I was thirsty, wanted to smoke etc amongst other things, but couldn’t.  Self-pity kicked in and all I wanted was a way out. I listened closely as the medical staff were discussing patient progress and what needed to be monitored. One thing that stood out was the oxygen supply through my mouth, which gave me hope of a quick exit out of my misery.

I was lonely and, thinking of the dependency factor, I was scared. This indirectly drove me to my plan to end my life in ICU. After days of chewing on the life support pipe which goes through my mouth straight into my lungs, I eventually got it right. I remember my machine sending an alarm to the staff, but at that point I had my jaws locked to prevent anyone from saving me. Luck wasn’t on my side as my doctor and her competent medical team had other plans with me. I did end up experiencing strange things, which people refer to as getting or seeing the white light.

Long before I knew it, my doctor was next to me telling me I mustn’t get a fright… I now had a tracheotomy; a procedure done whereby my breathing was controlled through an opening in my neck. A social worker student and chaplain were assigned to chat me up. I really enjoyed the female companionship and I got more visits from different students. My brain was overshadowed by all the attention and any suicidal thoughts, if there were any left during that time, left in ICU…

I now couldn’t wait for my occupational therapy, physiotherapy and social worker students to pay me their respective visits.  

Having had all that attention throughout the day couldn’t make up for the loneliness that followed suit. It was dealing with the ventilator noise and little irritating things like itchy eye brows, nose, hair and ears. It started to get the better of me mostly at night. But some of the ICU personnel would even sacrifice some of their tea or lunch times to sit by me and rub, scratch or merely keep me company. Eventually, after months of not being able to speak, I was strong enough to breathe without a ventilator and did I become a chatterbox lol. It was a little bit of freedom gained.

I parted with ICU after about five months and went for physical rehabilitation. Because of my high neck injury I wasn’t able to use any of my limbs. I was introduced to mouth painting by one of my occupational therapist. This I found interesting.  I started blowing darts as well to strengthen my lung capacity.   

I was discharged from Western Cape Rehab Centre at the end of June 2005 and went home where I realized my situation/condition calls for 24/7 care. My social worker Ms Gail Steward arranged for a place of stay in Milnerton, where I am a resident still to the day.

The first couple of months weren’t easy, because you have different people working with you outside a hospital setup and your privacy gets heavily invaded. It was a part two for me after coming to terms with the fact that I will be paralyzed for live. I had to make peace with sacrificing my privacy.  I think, because I am a spontaneous type of person, it was easier for me to deal with it.

By the end of 2005 I was dating again with a new circle of friends and had a lot going for me. A lesson for me was that of all my many friends only a couple came to see me in hospital. It showed me that some friendships at times may be built on a lie. My new friends were my family whom I’ve previously neglected in change for the world.

Many days I was merely sitting and taking stock of my life. I had so much time to try and fix things from the past. The answers to my unanswered questions slowly came and it was a real eye-opener for me.

Getting involved with mouth painters at Cheshire Homes 

I was approached by Martie and her husband Hendrik to join them at art class. My preferred medium was oil on canvas and soon I received compliments. Marti showed great interest and guided me well up to the point where I was painting independently. During 2006 I took up a position at the home to manage our Brick n Brack shop. It was during this period where I felt the need to live life to the fullest, within acceptable boundaries. It became clear to me that my live still had purpose and that I should use this second chance ( which a lot of people don’t get)  and make a difference where I can.

I registered with some organizations and started going out more often selling a smile to the general public for free. My main goal shifted now in trying to prevent something similar to happen to another individual. I started chatting to kids more freely about the negative things associated with substance abuse and the dangers that go with it. Kids especially are always curious when they see you in wheelchair and will ask strange questions, but I use that platform to highlight my plight.

Between 2007 and 2008 I was approached by some magazines and two television shows to share my story. I am fortunate to have done so and it was the start of many great things to follow. My doctor approached me in 2009 to participate in a diving prevention program which through E-TV was screened nationally. Follow the link below to see the advert.

http://www.qasa.co.za/b_diving.php

 It paid off, because that year the number of diving related paralysis dropped.  I feel proud now to be associated with such positives instead of all the negatives that played a major role in my life before.

I started at VW South Africa in 2010 through a SETA learnership and completed my studies in Business Administration at Training Excellence and I finished top in the Western Cape. I am still employed by them on a contract basis.  The last two years I have been sharing my life story with Student nurses at Groote Schuur, to give them a bit of insight into the life of someone dealing and living with paralysis every day.

Therefore, if I take stock of the last 7 years of my life compared to the 27 years being able bodied, I realize that my accident was a blessing in disguise. I have achieved more, ploughed back more and became more appreciative of life.

 

                                    - MAKE EVERY SECOND COUNT-