TIME TO TAKE ACTION

Chantéll is one of up to 200 women to have embarked on a class action over pelvic meshes that have left them with complications

- NOKUTHULA ZWANE-EJIKE

WHEN she gave birth to her son she had so many dreams about the wonderful things they were going to do together. Hiking, fishing and mountain biking – Chantéll Bothma couldn’t wait to open up a world of adventure for her child.

But she never got to do any of those things. Instead for the past seven years the mother her son has come to know has been anxious, depressed and frequently in pain.

Chantéll blames this on the mesh devices that were surgically implanted in her uterus and bladder just months after her son’s birth in 2016.

After Chantéll started experiencing intense back and abdominal pain she was diagnosed with pelvic organ prolapse (POP), which her doctor said was probably brought on by childbirth.

It’s a condition that affects about 20% of women and occurs when the muscles of the pelvic floor no longer offer enough support, causing organs such as the cervix, uterus and bladder to bulge into the vagina.

By the time Chantéll (43), a financial manager from Welkom, was diagnosed she was in so much pain she couldn’t even pick up her baby.

But instead of making her life better, the mesh devices that were implanted to give her sagging organs a lift, made everything a lot worse, she says.

“I couldn’t help with simple tasks like laundry or cleaning, which were done by my husband”. 

After spending four years in pain she got another doctor to remove the two devices. And when she saw what came out she was stunned – the mesh in her bladder was so eroded it looked like a chunk of jagged, dirty stone.