WE STILL LIVE IN HOPE

His daughter lost her unborn child in an accident and was left with brain damage, but the family are grateful for any improvement

- JACO HOUGH-COETZEE

IT WAS a peaceful Sunday on the Free State cattle farm when the phone rang at 12.30 pm. When Steyn Lombard answered the call he struggled to process what he was hearing.

No, it was impossible. It just couldn't be.

Just the day before he'd chatted on the phone with his five-months-pregnant daughter, Marioné van Deventer (25), who lived in Reitz and she'd assured him she and her baby, her first child, were doing well.

Now his ex-wife, Johanita Lombard, was calling to tell him their daughter had been in a terrible car accident and was in a coma. He grabbed his car keys, shouted for his second wife, Mariëtte, to join him and they set off immediately.

Marioné was being rushed to a hospital in Bethlehem, which was more than three hours away from Steyn's farm in the Dealesville district and they needed to get to her.

En route, Johanita called again to say Marioné was being transferred to Johannesburg. And then the terrible news her baby hadn't survived the accident.

It has been seven months and Steyn is still struggling to come to terms with what happened that tragic day in September.

Marioné, who suffered serious brain damage, was transferred to the Hillandale rehabilitation centre in Bloemfontein in early December. And it's here, before he visits his daughter, that Steyn speaks to YOU on behalf of the family. Her husband, Sybrand van Deventer (28), isn't up to talking about that terrible day.

Steyn tells us about the fear and helplessness of seeing his beloved daughter lying in a coma in her hospital bed - and about the loss of his grandchild.

"She was so excited when she announced in May that she was expecting" He's silent for a few moments and then he continues. "I would have become a grandfather."