When Disability Changed Her Life in an Instant, Queenie Grootboom Found the Heart to Keep Going

Photo Credit: Full Stop Communications

Having been part of a disability awareness campaign in 2015, Veteran South African radio personality Queenie Grootboom never imagined that she too would become wheelchair-bound. Yet after facing life-altering spinal complications, she returned to the campaign as a keynote speaker to share her powerful full-circle story of resilience and hope.

Eastern Cape, South Africa (22 October 2026) – Life works in mysterious ways. Something veteran South African radio personality Queenie Grootboom can personally attest to.

In July 2015, during a SPAR Wheelchair Wednesday activation organised by the Association for the Physically Disabled (APD) in Nelson Mandela Bay, she was among a group of able-bodied people asked to perform tasks like withdrawing cash from an ATM and shopping for groceries while seated in an assistive device. It proved an eye-opening and humbling experience that revealed the real-life challenges faced by those living with disabilities.

Never did Queenie imagine that she too would become wheelchair-bound just four years later, when complications from a tumour pressing against her spine left her unable to walk.

Last Wednesday, she returned as the keynote speaker as 200 wheelchairs were handed over to beneficiaries of the 2026 campaign, describing it as a true “full-circle moment.”

Good Things Guy shared about the initiative last week, where SPAR Eastern Cape, in partnership with local business leaders, helped raise funds to deliver the brand-new wheelchairs to deserving individuals across Nelson Mandela Bay.

In her address during the event, Queenie opened up about how severe back pain and a strange sensation in one foot led to a medical consultation that changed her life overnight.

Doctors found it originated from a benign growth and that the condition was critical.

“It was embarrassing, especially when I started losing control of my bladder and bowel functions. We all thought these were post-partum symptoms that would eventually disappear. But they weren’t, and they never did,” Queenie recounted.

She suffered a severe bedsore and a painful allergic reaction that caused further injury to her spine. The infection spread rapidly, requiring two major procedures that left behind a deep and terrifying wound.

The injury was so severe that her spine and intestines were briefly visible to doctors. While it took nearly two full years for her body to physically heal, the paralysis unfortunately remained.

It took another three years to make sense of her new reality and to “find” herself again, a period during which her mother became her “doctor, nurse, protector and greatest advocate”.

Queenie admitted that she hid from the world while processing everything she had lost: her ability to walk, her father to a violent crime and her marriage.

The presenter, whose voice has been a staple on Bay FM, Umhlobo Wenene, Kaya FM, MPower FM and Algoa FM for over two decades, also felt tremendous shame. Yet, she remained on the air throughout, broadcasting from her bedroom as she continued to inspire those who tuned in every day.

“I found strength in my ability to speak and knowing that I could still be there for others who needed me.”

She remembers the moment she found peace within herself as if it were yesterday. It took a simple message from a listener: “The fact that we can still hear you is a miracle”.

Queenie also realised life was spiritual and that everyone needed to find their “source”, whether God or something else.

“Your source gives you purpose and direction. It gives you answers and hope.”

With that, she encouraged people with disabilities never to allow themselves to be left behind.

At the wheelchair handover, Queenie told the audience that the devices, bought with funds raised by their corporate partners, could open doors to possibilities.

APD’s Brian Bezuidenhout said the huge need for wheelchairs, especially among the poor, sparked the first Wheelchair Wednesday campaign all those years ago. He added that the organisation’s ongoing services helped move people through the door that Queenie mentioned.

“To every business person, to every sponsor, to every individual who has stood by us, we say thank you. Your loyalty, generosity and willingness to participate have helped turn a simple idea into a programme that is now changing lives.”