A BITTER BLOW

Saffron was recovering from brain surgery when she was injured in taxi violence. But she's not letting this devastating setback get her down

- KESHIA AFRICA

THE day was meant to be one of celebration. Andile Matomela was proud of his girlfriend after her brave battle to learn to walk and talk again and he wanted to do something that would make her smile.

It had been a few rough months for Saffron Shaw. She suffered a stroke in October last year that led to emergency surgery in which a portion of her skull was removed.

The surgery was followed by a com­ plicated procedure where a 3D­printed model was attached to her head to replace the piece of bone that had been removed. Then she had to follow an ex­ tensive rehab and therapy programme just to help her regain basic functions like walking and talking.

By August, Saffron had made steady progress and Andile (27) wanted to treat her. He took her to a cat sanctuary to find a kitten to adopt and they were in high spirits as they drove back to her family home in Hout Bay, Cape Town. But then the couple drove into a violent protest reportedly linked to the recent taxi strike that devastated parts of the Mother City.

As Andile frantically tried to make a U­turn, men wearing balaclavas started throwing bricks at the car. One shattered the windshield, hitting Saffron (27) on the head.

“When I looked over, she was out cold. Blood was running down her head,” Andile recalls. “My first thought was that I hoped that the brick hadn’t hit her on the side of her skull that had just been replaced,” he says.

But his hopes were cruelly dashed. Saffron drifted in and out of conscious­ ness, Andile tells us. When they arrived at Mediclinic Constantiaberg his worst fears were confirmed: the brick had struck the 3D­printed piece, causing it to crack, and there was bleeding on Saffron’s brain.