Good Morning Angels recipient Pieter-Rian passes away

Just two months ago we celebrated Pieter-Rian's 16th birthday. After hearing about his story and will to fight, we threw together one epic 16th birthday experience that can be seen below. 

Sadly, he passed away over the weekend. The news came that he passed away on Saturday morning at the Glynwood Hospital. May he rest in peace and we will forever remember his incredible zest for life. 

GMA EXTRA 13 MARCH 2017 (PIETER-RIAN 7 MARCH 2017)

BACKGROUND: Pieter-Rian turned 16 on the 7th of March 2017. He’s a keen rugby player for Benoni High school. He’s his moms, Anne-Rita’s oldest and only son. The past two years have been very difficult for this family.  Pieter-Rians father died unexpectedly from an aneurism in 2015 and ever since life has been an emotional and financial battle. Then, in September 2016, Pieter-Rian felt a lump on his leg. The lump turned out to be cancer.

Since then, several lumps have been removed from his leg as well as his lungs. Pieter-Rian has been in-and-out of hospital and now, his doctors have advised his mother that they cannot continue with chemotherapy. He has been taken off the aggressive treatment and his family has been advised to make the most of the time they have. We tried to make this special day in his life an unforgettable day for him and his family. According to his mother, Anne-Rita, that is exactly what happened. Anne-Rita, Pieter-Rian and Arien have sent us messages to thank everyone who made this possible. 

ANGELS: Chris Ndlovu from Boyang Gape Tours: Transport of the Benadie Family. 

Retha Ingenbleek from Spar North Region: R25 000 Spar vouchers for groceries. 

Play Station: PlayStation Games. 

“Schweet” at Centurion Lifestyle Centre: for Pieter-Rian’s birthday cake. 

Nataniël, for being an Angel and bringing love. 

Heli pilot: George Tonking.

Graham Shipway, General Manager of Guvon’s Askari Lodge and Spa: Game Drive, Elephant experience, meals, spa treatments, overnight stay for the family.

Adam Fullmore from Air Ventures for a Hot-air Balloon ride. 

Katinka Erasmus from Cancervive for Revlon Gift Packs and Biker Guard of honour for Pieter-Rian and his family. 

Roelof Smith, Bulls Flanker for meeting the Benadie’s at Askari and spending time with them. 

YOU CAN HELP THIS FAMILY with any financial contribution:

P. Benadie

Netbank Savings: 2001981864 

Branch 198765

Swift code NEDSZAJJ

ORIGINAL REQUEST 1:

Goeienaand almal.

Anne-Rita (Dassie) het my vandag gekontak en gevra of ek kan probeer om die woord uit te kry vir 'n kanker pasient. 

Hulle wil sy 16de verjasrsdag onvergeetlik maak. Dit is net om die draai. Ek probeer kyk of ons vir hom ’n vlug bv oor die Hartebeestpoort dam kan reel. As julle van iemand weet wat kan help kontak my asb.

Enige iemand wat wil help kontak my asb ek sal julle in kontak bring met die dame wat my gevra het. Pieter-Riaan, was tot laat verlede jaar 'n normale 15 jarige seun, wat baie goed was met rugby. Hy het begin kla van 'n pynlike knop aan die agterkant van sy linker bobeen. Sy ma Anne-Rita het hom redelik gou dr toe geneem, en daar is vasgestel dat hy Ewing sarcoma het, en dat hy 3 gewasse in sy linker long ook het. Dit is als uitgesny en hy is toe met chemoterapie behandel. Net so terloops. Sy pa is einde 2015 oorlede. December 2016 het die knop op sy been weer gegroei en met die scan kon 10 gewasse in beide longe gesien word.  Hy is vandag, Donderdag 16 Feb ontslaan nadat al die gewasse weer verwyder is. 

Hy moet nou weer die dokter sien oor 2 weke.  

Pieter-Riaan word die 7de Maart 16! Dit sal so wonderlik wees as ons vir hom 'n onvergeetlike verjaarsdag kan reël. 

Anne-Rita sê soos enige tiener seun hou hy van elektroniese toestelle: hy sal baie van Dstv, of 'n laptop met data hou waarop hy videos en TV kan kyk. Annerita is ook 'n enkel ouer wat spook om kop bo water te hou om vir hom en sy sussie te sorg.

Die onkoloog het gesê hulle stop alle behandeling verder. Hulle moet eerder sy tyd saam geniet as gesin.

Andri 

ORIGINAL REQUEST 2:

Good day GMA team. 

First and foremost THANK YOU for all the good selfless work that you and your devoted sponsors do.  You bring hope to so many who find themselves in dark and desperate situations, in many cases those who have given-up hope all together. This initiative has been, and will continue to be a pillar of strength to many. I have spent many mornings captivated, by the heart-breaking stories, having to fight the tears on my way to work. 

Current Situation:

During September 2016 my nephew, Pieter-Rian Benadie (15) became aware of his left-upper-thigh becoming swollen and stiff, and also started struggling with the leg mobility in general.  As a keen rugby player for the Benoni High school’s under 15 team, he put it off to a possible sports inury.  P-R brought this to his mom’s attention (Anne-Rita Benadie), who took P-R to the GP on Friday 3 September 2016.

P-R was immediately sent for a sonar scan which revealed a large mass within the left upper thigh.  A MRI scan was also done the same day.  PR was referred to a Professor at Pretoria East Hospital for further assessments.

On 17 September 2016 Professor le Roux surgically removed the large mass (the size of a no 4 rugby ball) which fortunately had not infiltrated the sciatic-nerve (which could have led to to a drop foot).  Devastatingly however the tumour’s lab tests results where positive for malignancy, later classified as Ewing’s Sarcoma. It is a rare disease in which cancer cells are found in the bone or in soft tissue. Ewing sarcoma is most common in adolescents and young adults. A CAT scan revealed that the cancer had metastasised to his right lung. A surgeon in Pretoria removed one tumour and 3 smaller ones from his right lung on the 4th of October. 

After returning home from the lung surgery P-R needed to regain his strength. He met with an oncologist, in order to plan to start chemotherapy. The chemotherapy was started on 14 November 2016 for which P-R had to spend several consecutive days in hospital. At the beginning of December P-R underwent more chemotherapy. Unfortunately he had to be hospitalised again on the 16th of December for 5 days due to a low white blood count.  It was during this time before Christmas that P-R started feeling the same swollen sensation in his left-upper thigh.  At that stage it was thought to possibly be scar-tissue from his previous leg surgery, but P-R was sent for another CAT scan.  The results delivered another blow to PR.  The tumour had regrown and had developed in exactly the same place.  Another devastating blow was the appearance of multiple lesions in all lung fields. A PET scan conducted early January confirmed the tumours in both lungs and the left thigh.  

On the 18th of January 2017 P-R was back at hospital where the tumour was surgically removed from his thigh for a second time.  

On 7 Feb 2017 P-R was back in theatre where 5 tumours were surgically removed from his left lung, (being the size of golf balls) as well as 8 tumours from his right lung. The 13 tumours were removed. P-R lost around 30% of his lung capacity.  After surgery PR was on a ventilator for 2 days. He was discharged on the 10th day after his bilateral thoracotomies.

Delivering the most recent blow to P-R’s fight against this relentless cancer is the reformation of yet another tumour in his left-upper thigh for a third time. This was confirmed last week on the 23rd of Feb 2017 through a MRI scan. The tumour that had been removed 5 weeks earlier, had grown back, made up of three individual masses with a combined size of 16cm X 7CM as well as smaller mass lesions . The next step that will be taken is radiation of the leg. No further chemotherapy will be conducted. Based on the aggressiveness and swiftness on the cancer PR’s prognosis is not good at all with a life-expectancy of only a couple of months.

The Backdrop:

P-R is the older brother to Arien Benadie, a 14 year old girl. Sadly and very suddenly they lost their father, Rian Benadie due to a pulmonary embolism in February-2015. Since their father’s death their mother Anne-Rita,had to occupy the daunting responsibility of a single parent and bread winner for the already struggling family.  As their father was a self-employed, sole bread-winner for the family, they were left in an instant financial crisis.  Their mom was fortunate to get employment, but unfortunately their expenses far outweighs her income, not even considering the additional pressure of mounting medical-aid co-payments and  bills.  As a family we try our best to support and help where we can both temporally as well as emotionally, but there is a continuous financial stress to deal with.

The Request for help:

P-R’s 16th birthday is on the 7th of March 2017.  We want to make it an unforgettable experience for him, his sister and mother as medically speaking it looks as if it could be his last birthday…  We are planning to organise a surprise party for PR over the weekend of the 18th of March 2017 to celebrate his birthday with his family, school and church friends.  He loves the ocean, water activities and music; we therefore thought of a suited theme or venue.  Obviously we want it to be awesome, but awesome comes with an awesome price tag.  It is for this reason that we have decided to turn to GMA for help.  We believe you have the right contacts and resources that could help us give this young man a super-star birthday, because that’s what he is a very brave, a super-star. Through all of the challenges and disappointments he has faced over the past 6 months, he has remained his joyful positive self.  He has taken each step with so much courage and faith, and has taught me and so many others a couple of life-lessons.  We don’t know what lies ahead for him, but we want to celebrate him as best we can over his birthday period.  We are open to anything! Your assistance in any way or form will be immensely appreciated!  At the same time we understand there are many people in need, and that you have limited resources which you need to put to the best use.  

Looking forward to your soonest reply.

Charles Young (Uncle)