A daring gallop? A ghastly fall? A pool of blood? She lay in the hospital bed, her head swollen beyond recognition as tubes and pipes fought for space around her. With an oxygen mask clasped to her innocent face and a heart monitor eerily beeping the seconds away, death was the dreaded pronouncement no one willed to imagine.
It was a fateful Friday afternoon, November 12th 2004. Nine year old Sanet Badenhorst from Cape Town, South Africa, had gone horse riding with her older sisters when she tragically fell and landed head-first, fracturing her skull and cutting open an artery in her brain. ?When we reached her, all we saw was blood,? Sanet?s sister Jane sombrely recalled to Read Us. ?We actually thought she was dead.?
Lying in a steadily increasing pool of blood, Sanet was thrown instantly into a coma from the impact of the heavy fall. The three sisters were riding in a rural area 8km away from the nearest community without even a phone to call emergency services. As Jane raced away on her horse to look for help, she was shocked to behold a vehicle climbing up the rickety track. The driver was hopelessly lost. Following the timely arrival of the Good Samaritan, an ambulance was called, arriving at the scene shortly afterwards and taking Sanet to Netcare Kuils River Hospital in Western Cape.
To complicate matters, her father, a successful South African farmer was away in Namibia on business and her mother equally away visiting family members for the weekend in Johannesburg. After hours of battling to save her life at the Intensive Care Unit, the prognosis was grim. The innocent girl lay lifeless, the weak bleep from a heart monitor symbolising only the faintest ember of hope that remained for survival.
The following day, Hettie Badenhorst burst into the ward where her daughter lay motionless, criss-crossed by pipes and tubes. It was a terrifying picture for any parent to behold. ?I just got the biggest fright of my life when I saw my child lying there ? it?s actually indescribable. For any mother, it would almost kill you to look at your child in such a state,? Mrs Badenhorst described.
?When I looked at her head, it was like a rugby ball ? so big and swollen,? she recounted, solemn in reminiscence. A grim-faced doctor then called Hettie privately into his office and asked her to sit down. ?I asked him what Sanet?s chances were. He said to me, ?Well, Sanet has got basically no chance. It is totally out of our hands.? ?
Hennie Badenhorst received the news of his daughter?s accident via a phone call. ?I dropped on my knees and said, ?Lord, there is no way my child can die. It?s not possible. It doesn?t matter what the circumstances say, I am going to hold onto Your Word.? ?
He flew back on the first available flight to find his daughter buried in gadgets and surrounded by other medical paraphernalia. Her intracranial pressure had risen to a staggering level of 85, far above the normal level of 10, as the internal haemorrhaging within the brain ceased to relent.
?I phoned a friend who is one of the most well known doctors in South Africa,? he told Read Us, insisting that his friend give him an honest account of his daughter?s chances. ?He spoke to the neurosurgeon in charge and then called me back. He said, ?I have got bad news for you; she basically has no chance. Even if she somehow manages to live, she won?t be able to walk or talk ? she?s basically got no brain, she?d be like a vegetable.? ?
As the seconds were fast ticking the minutes into hours and days, there was no sign of improvement. Moved by the plight of his daughter and his firm faith, Mr Badenhorst made a promise to God ? he would not eat until his daughter opened her eyes. Christians and clergy from churches throughout the region responded to the call for prayer for Sanet as a physical and spiritual battle was being waged for her survival.
As desperation mounted, Hennie recalled an unusual conversation he had held several days earlier. An atheist had informed him that a certain ?prophet? from Nigeria would be visiting Cape Town that weekend, tauntingly insisting that miracles do not happen and the ?prophet? was nothing but a charlatan. He was referring to Prophet T.B. Joshua, a name Hennie knew little of save for a few miraculous video clips he had watched.
Moved to action, desperate circumstances triggered desperate faith and Hennie decided to visit the venue of the prophet?s meeting that weekend, clutching the picture of his daughter in her comatose state.
?When I got there, it was chaos,? he recalled, confronted with a frustratingly long line of people that stretched endlessly before his eyes. He stared at the crowd aghast, wondering how on earth he would manage to explain his complicated case to Prophet T.B. Joshua. The more he waited, the more fear and uncertainty gripped him as the image of his daughter lying lifeless in the hospital was etched in his mind. It seemed like ?mission impossible?.
Remembering the woman with the issue of blood in the Bible, Mr Badenhorst broke all protocol and determinedly surged forward through the crowd. ?I knew if I could just touch him, Sanet would be healed.? As Prophet T.B. Joshua was walking by, he reached out with faith, grabbed the prophet by the hand and cried out for prayer. ?My daughter is dying,? he told him, in remarkable semblance to the biblical case of Jairus in Mark 5. Surprisingly, the man of God simply turned around, told him not to worry and walked on.
He took heart at those words and his faith was rewarded as he was unexpectedly called to meet the prophet personally the following evening. ?One minute before midnight, I walked into his office,? Hennie continued, tears welling up in remembrance of the life-changing encounter. ?The presence of the Holy Spirit was so awesome that I couldn?t speak. The man of God said to me, ?Take this handkerchief and put it on her ear?. I had not even explained to him what had happened.?
Folding it with care into his breast pocket and guarding it with his life, he offered a silent prayer within himself as he left. Racing against time, Mr Badenhorst rushed to the hospital and placed the handkerchief on Sanet?s grossly malformed head. Although there was no visible change at that moment, it proved to be the catalyst for a miracle beyond medical comprehension forever to be recorded in the annals of the hospital?s history.
Several days later, the situation appeared to be deteriorating. ?Her lungs collapsed, she had a terrible fever and her brain pressure was still out of control,? Hennie explained. At this juncture, the doctors in charge had arrived at a bleak conclusion ? it was time to put Sanet out of any further suffering. She had lost the battle. Tears flowed as the hospital staff stood around the ward in disarray. The intensity of their actions while fighting for Sanet?s survival and the horrific nature of her injuries had left an indelible emotional connection with the case.
?As I entered the intensive care unit, there was chaos. The curtains were closed. They had started disconnecting her machines and had already taken the oxygen off,? Hennie described. Recalling Prophet T.B. Joshua?s reassurance several days earlier and clutching the handkerchief he had given to him, Hennie Badenhorst gripped his daughter?s lifeless hands. ?I said, ?Sanet, wake up. Please, wake up. God has promised me that you won?t die.? The next moment, she opened her eyes and said, ?Pa? ?
Commotion reigned. ?I can never forget that moment,? said Mr Badenhorst, fighting back tears. ?That was the beginning of the rest of our lives. The impossible had become possible. There are no words to describe what the Lord had just done.?
?It was chaos,? Mrs Badenhorst remembered. ?A little while afterwards, they allowed me in and I saw Sanet was coming out of her coma. It was too much for the human mind to comprehend.?
One week later, Sanet Badenhorst had been discharged from hospital, walking and talking normally. Her recovery was astounding although the days she spent in the ICU as doctors fought to save her life remain unregistered in her memory. ?I was lying there, wondering why I was in the hospital,? Sanet said, describing to Read Us her first recollection after the incident. ?It was hard to relate to what had happened. It was just like a couple of days were cut out of my life.?
?I never thought she would come home,? Jane, who was 13 at the time, admitted. ?I saw that miracles really do happen.?
Sanet?s mother narrated how the incredible miracle touched hearts throughout the hospital. ?People still talk about it today in that hospital. Two or three years down the line, when we went there with Sanet, they would still say, ?That?s the miracle child.? ?
If you meet Mr Badenhorst one of these days, chances are, he would be flipping through his Bible, praying with the handkerchief he received from Prophet T.B. Joshua which he has jealously guarded over the years. ?I knew that if I could keep on keeping on, He would never leave me or forsake me. You may think He is late but He?s always on time,? were his words of advice.
As for Miss Sanet, her experience has transformed her, just as it has done the whole family, into a God fearing young woman. However, her journey has not been without its challenges, including a time where suicidal thoughts whirled within. ?When I was 16, I faced a difficult stage in my life where I didn?t see the reason for living and I felt like giving up on life,? she opened up to Read Us.
?One day, I had this revelation from the Lord ? ?I didn?t save you to be this; I didn?t create you to live like this?. I was searching for answers. People were dying every day from minor injuries ? why did I get a second chance? I really went on a journey and grew to know the Lord and love Him. My eyes opened to the possibilities with Him. There is so much more to life with Him.?
Sanet is now passionate about reaching out to young people with the reality of her Christian experience. ?The young folk of today are tired of the grey areas ? grownups who tell them one thing but live another,? she enthused.
?The world is going downhill very quickly ? look at the media and music and what is seen as normal these days. We need leaders ? people like Prophet T.B. Joshua ? who can reach out to the youth. Many go to church and put on a mask but when they step out into the world, they?re back to who they were. They just see it as tradition and religion, not a deep encounter with the Lord.?
Her advice in the light of her miraculous recovery is clear. ?Never give up; always believe in God. Even if you look around and life does not seem to make sense, just keep faith and read the Word. The Lord will never let you fall.?
Not only has God restored her life but also the great future the devil wanted to snatch. At 19, ten years after her healing and still bursting with life, Miss Badenhorst is almost finished with her training to pursue her dream career as a pilot!
This article was culled from the maiden issue of Read Us, the official magazine of The SCOAN.
Source: Read Us
