Holding On To Memories

Progeria sufferer Ontlametse Phalatse defied doctors’ predictions, and brought so much joy in her short life. Her brother remembers his brave little sister.

- Khatija Nxedlana

IT SOUNDED like a minor cough. But Ontlametse Phalatse insisted it was nothing to worry about. Cough or no cough she was determined to get on with her day. She had places to go, things to do – as always, a million and one plans.

Now more than anything, her brother, Tshimologo (25), wishes he’d tried to talk her into staying in bed. But how was he to know that within hours his beloved little sister would be gone?

Tshimologo looks shell shocked as he talks to us at his family home in Hebron, north of Pretoria. In the yard family and friends are huddled in groups. It’s less than 24 hours after Ontlametse’s death and they’re still reeling – as are the millions of people who followed the plucky teen’s battle over the years.

Since the age of nine Ontlametse had a death sentence hanging over her head. In 2008 when she was diagnosed with progeria, a condition that causes rapid ageing, doctors predicted she wouldn’t live to see her 14th birthday. She was one of only two South African women with the rare genetic disorder.

And yet despite the odds stacked against her, she celebrated her 18th birth day recently. Her brave fighting spirit endeared her to many South Africans, who saw her as a “miracle child”. Among them was president Jacob Zuma, who invited her to the presidential guesthouse, Mahlamba Ndlopfu, in Pretoria on the eve of her birthday festivities.