I WANT TO BE A DOCTOR ONE DAY

A blood disorder made school a challenge for Zandré, but it didn't stop him from earning eight distinctions in matric

- JANICE BECKETT-MSIZA

HE’S full of smiles as he plays with the family dogs on the lawn – and the teenager has every reason to be happy.

Zandré Smith from Randburg racked up a full house of As in his matric exams, a total of eight distinctions that even took him by surprise.

“I thought I might get three distinctions,” he says. “It was a huge surprise when I got eight.”

It was also a Herculean task. Zandré (18) has severe type A haemophilia, a genetic disorder that prevents his blood from clotting normally and causes him to suffer from bleeding joints and arthritis.

Activities as simple as walking, writing or typing can cause his joints to bleed internally.

Matric was tough for Zandré, who went to Helpmekaar Kollege, a private school in Joburg. He was granted concessions in his prelim exams and allowed to type his answers instead of writing them out – but the joints in his knuckles started bleeding and he couldn’t complete some of his papers.

“It was horrible,” he says. “It wasn’t that I didn’t know the work, it was just that I couldn’t finish it. When blood gathers in the joints the cartilage starts eroding. So it’s like bone on bone. I have arthritis in my shoulder and I’m starting to get arthritis in one hand because of all the writing. I’m living in pain.”

He still managed seven As and a B in his prelims but he needed to make another plan for finals – the pain of typing was just too much. A scribe was appointed to write his answers in a private room with a facilitator but it was stressful, he admits.