Mr Zonisele is a beneficiary of The Joint Venture Trust. This is a NPO that I founded and to date we have performed 47 joint replacement operations for patients referred to us by Tygerberg Hospital. The operations are performed at Stellenbosch Medi-Clinic and the success of this project has only been possible because of the incredible benevolent spirit of my colleagues, a team of very dedicated trustees behind the scenes and the financial support of big corporates such as Old Mutual and Medi-Clinic.
Mr Zonisele is one of our recent beneficiaries. He had advanced arthritis of both his knees. We use the Oxford Knee Score to grade the degree of arthritis and to evaluate our surgical outcomes. It consists of 12 questions and the highest possible score is 60. A perfect knee equates to a score of 60. Mr Zonisele had an Oxford Knee Score of 21/60 and subsequently underwent bilateral simultaneous knee replacements in October 2015. When I walked up to him this morning in my waiting room to shake his hand and welcome him for his follow-up visit he pulled me down to his level and gave me a huge bear hug. He could just not stop saying “thank you”. His knees are looking superb and his Oxford Knee Score today is 54/60. This is a superb result for him now five months after bilateral knee replacement surgery. It is an enormous privilege to play a part in bringing such joy to a fellow South African in need! On days like these I think back to the time I was a young boy and my dad came to tuck me in to bed one night. He saw I had something on my mind and enquired: “what is on your mind my son?” I replied “Dad, I am thinking about all the poor and sick people in the world and about how I can one day help them”.