Gauteng mom still doesn’t know baby is dead: ‘It doesn’t help telling her’

The family’s main priority is making sure the young mom recovers well after her car accident. They’re still uncertain about when they can tell her about her baby daughter’s death.

It’s been about three months since Shanei Norris (23) and her 16-month-old baby daughter Reanei were involved in a head-on collision at Drie Riviere near Vereeniging, Gauteng.

Reanei died on impact and Shanei was left in a critical condition.

Shanei cannot remember the accident on 23 March which happened when she was on her way to drop her daughter off at day care.

She also doesn’t know that her little girl is dead, “because it doesn’t help telling her, only for her to forget it about 10 minutes later”, says Noeleen van Blerk, a close friend of Shanei’s.

Shanei suffered a serious brain injury in the accident, causing severe memory loss.

Noeleen told YOU Shanei only remembers something for about 10 minutes, before forgetting it again.

“The doctors aren’t able to determine whether the memory loss is temporary or permanent,” Noeleen says. “They said in some cases people wake up and can remember everything, while others never fully recover.”

She says Shanei remembers her daughter occasionally, but she always thinks that she dropped Reanei off at the home of the baby’s father, Reinier Stoltz, or at day care.

Noeleen says their main concern at the moment is Shanei’s recovery and they’re not sure if or when they’ll tell her about Reanei’s death.

Shanei was in the Sebokeng state hospital north of Vanderbijlpark before being transferred to the Cormed private hospital in Vereeniging.

“She can’t walk at all,” Noeleen says. “She can’t straighten her right leg, which was crushed during the accident – it’s in a permanent 90-degree position.

“Her leg was straightened with metal pins after the accident but hasn’t yet fully recovered. She also has a problem with her left leg – the wound hasn’t yet healed.

“She also developed blood clots.”

Shanei was transferred to a rehabilitation centre in Parktown, Johannesburg, on Friday afternoon, where her path to recovery will begin. Her treatment will include physiotherapy and sessions with a psychologist.

On weekends she’ll have the opportunity to go home to visit with family and friends.

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