Martins' mother, Maggie continually wipes her face as she relives that day which, in hindsight, has become infused with a deeper meaning, a message of farewell emanating from every recalled event.
"The whole day, from when she woke up and throughout the day, she just wanted to be with me," sobs Maggie. "I was too blind to see what was happening, and I couldn't understand why she was acting to strangely. She followed me around as I did my chores - she literally held on to my green jacket as I hung up the washing and she even waited for me at the door when I went to the toilet. She didn't want me or her young brother to leave the house and she put out a duvet in front of her small room and insisted that we come and lie down there with her to watch a movie."
Before that Martins had also insisted on braiding her mum's hair, but Maggie resisted because it was too hot.
"When I had dished up lunch, she scraped the food off her plate and onto mine and said we should eat together," says Maggie. "If I ate, she wanted to eat with me. If I had tea, she wanted me to leave some for her - eventually I asked her why she was eating like that and she replied she had to, because where would she get food like that ever again? I couldn't understand what was going on with her because she seemed to be in such a loving, peaceful mood."
As they lay on the duvet watching the movie, Martins placed her head on her mum's lap and was lying there quietly until, suddenly and out of the blue, she said: "Nou kan ek nie meer aanhou nie!" ("Now I cannot keep on any more!")
"What are you talking about?" Maggie wanted to know, and saw that Martins seemed to be out of breath, so she helped her get undressed and put on a nightie.
Maggie called for an ambulance, which arrived there in no time at all and she accompanied her daughter to Knysna Provincial Hospital. "They didn't have any oxygen for her on the ambulance," Maggie puts her face in her scarf.
"I was in shock, because she had been absolutely fine and we had all commented on how well she looked - not like someone who was ill at all!"
Soon after their arrival at hospital a nurse told Maggie that her daughter had passed away.
"Sy't so saggies en mooi gegaan." ("She left so gently and beautifully.")
The caring team of Hero, who has made Martins' welfare their mission, feels that after several weeks of better-than-ever health, Martins' body simply became exhausted and "she was ready to leave us". She had finally managed to regulate her home dialysis treatment properly and was looking her best ever.
Background
In March 2010, Marie Martins was given one week to live. Aged just 16, she had been receiving dialysis treatment at Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Hospital when it became apparent that her symptoms were not temporary, but that she had chronic kidney failure. As there were no dialysis slots available for her at the George Provincial Hospital, she was sent home to Knysna, essentially to die.
A trust fund was set up for her by a concerned Knysna resident, while National Renal Care, a private renal therapy provider, agreed to provide dialysis for Martins, free of charge, until a slot became available for her at the George Provincial Hospital. A slot eventually became available and the Renal Unit staff there went to great lengths to nurture her and to educate her about her illness. They also fought for her life during a number of nerve-wracking episodes.
Martins clearly needed mentoring at home. At first, Knysna Child Welfare became involved, but when Martins turned 18 she no longer qualified for assistance from Child Welfare. Debbie Gunter of Knysna was advised to contact Hospice, who in turn referred her to Athena Richmond.
Richmond had established an organisation called Hero with the purpose of identifying and assisting abused or neglected children, especially in the disadvantaged communities in and around Knysna. Richmond, and two other women of Hero - child therapist Lynn Stoker and Irene Wright - agreed to work with Martins even though she was neither neglected nor abused.
"They would provide counselling and wide ranging material support for Marie, using what was still available in Marie’s trust fund," explains Gunter. “Marie took all of us on a journey no-one could possibly have predicted: full of strange turns, miracles and unexpected challenges. The women of Hero have given their all, with unconditional love and uncanny insight.”
Over time, Martins responded well to her dialysis treatment, for which she had to commute between Knysna and George three times a week. But the fistulas which were surgically created to provide access for the dialysis machine to Martins' kidneys, collapsed one by one. It would eventually become impossible for Martins to continue her dialysis at the hospital's renal unit.
The only alternative for her was to perform a type of 'home dialysis'. However, her home was deemed by state social workers to be unsuitable for home dialysis. The women at Hero arranged for a Wendy house to be erected next to Martins' family home, and for it to be given finishes that would make it weatherproof and easy to keep scrupulously clean.
However, keeping a headstrong young girl like Martins on track with her four-times-per-day home dialysis, was not always easy, remember the ladies of Hero whose lives unexpectedly became intertwined with that of their charge.
“One of the most memorable ‘crises’ was when Irene got a phone call from Marie on the day after Christmas," recalls Gunter. "Marie had been rushed by ambulance to the George Provincial Hospital and was in ICU. The staff have no idea how she managed to find the strength to phone Irene, but she asked for her mum."
Wright then went into the township late that afternoon, accompanied by her sister and a friend, to fetch Martins' mother, Maggie, and drove her to George so that she could be with her daughter.
"All those who worked so closely with Marie are deeply saddened. Our thoughts and prayers are with Marie’s family, in particular: her parents, Maggie and Patrick Martins, her sisters, Deborah and Daphne, her brother, Ronaldo, and her little nephew, Ronaldino.”
Funeral
Martins' funeral will be on Saturday, May 25 - at 09:00 from their home at CU2425 Bonganiweg, Bongani and thereafter, at 10:30 at the New Zion Temple Church of God in Greenfield, White Location.
"I just want to thank these good women of Hero for helping Marie. Even after her passing they are still being good to her and to us," said Maggie.
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A moving moment captured in George Provincial Hospital on December 26, 2012 as Maggie Martins holds her daugher's hand. On that day, Irene Wright of Hero fetched Maggie Martins at her home after she received a desperate call from Marie insisting on seeing her mother. (Photo: Irene Wright.)
