Belinda Estment passed away while on holiday, due to Malaria complications; her family are giving thanks to the National Blood Service of Zimbabwe, by raising funds for a new, much-needed Plasmapheresis Machine.
South Africa (23 April 2023) – Belinda’s husband Kevin Estment, friends and family, have united to honour her memory and leave behind a legacy that will go on to save lives. Belinda passed away in Zimbabwe after contracting Malaria while on holiday. The National Blood Service of Zimbabwe played a vital role in her care despite her being a foreigner, so her family plans to repay the kindness.
Belinda was the beloved wife, sister, aunt, and friend who passed away on 14th September 2022, due to complications that arose from contracting Malaria while on holiday.
Belinda and her husband, Kevin, were travelling through Zimbabwe on a “trip of a lifetime” when they both contracted Malaria. Despite both of them receiving initial treatment on the shores of Lake Kariba, Belinda’s condition worsened, and she was admitted to a hospital in Harare. There she suffered further complications. Her primary physician identified Methemoglobinemia (a rare blood disorder that affects how red blood cells deliver oxygen throughout the body) and acute renal failure and immediately placed her on dialysis.
Shortly afterwards she was diagnosed with a blood disease called acute Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP). In TTP, blood clots form in small blood vessels throughout the body and can limit or block the flow of blood to organs, such as the brain, kidneys, and heart. Without immediate treatment through access to a plasma exchange machine, this condition is considered fatal. Fortunately, in the space of about 6 hours, Belinda’s haematologist was able to arrange for the National Blood Service of Zimbabwe (NBSZ) to provide immediate access to one of the limited number of plasmapheresis machines available in the whole country. This gave Belinda a fighting chance over the following week of therapy as her plasma exchange sessions alternated with dialysis each day.
Despite some of the best and most compassionate care received from all the medical and hospital staff, Belinda passed away on September 14, 2022.
“Belinda Estment died from complications due to contracting malaria while on holiday in Zimbabwe last year. The Zimbabwean medical fraternity looked after her extremely well and gave her the best care, but she succumbed to the disease and died. She’s left a massive hole in all our lives.
Her husband, close friends and family have decided to raise funds for a new Plasmapheresis Machine for the National Blood Service of Zimbabwe as this is one of the machines they made available to Belinda to assist her. They have very few machines in Zimbabwe, and those that they do have are very old.
This will be done in Belinda’s memory and as thanks to the Zimbabwean people for their help and kindness. It’s something that Belinda would wholeheartedly have supported. So, our hearts are heavy as we go about this fund-raising campaign, but we know that Belinda would approve.” – Jean Pieters
A new Plasmapheresis Machine
In establishing the Belinda Estment Foundation, friends and family are raising $60,000 to purchase a new Plasmapheresis Machine for the National Blood Service of Zimbabwe. This is being done as thanks for all the medical teams did to make sure Belinda got the best care possible.
It is also to say thank you to the many Zimbabweans that they came into contact with during their holiday, while Belinda was in the hospital and after she passed away, that showed incredible friendliness, genuine caring and true compassion, from all walks of life. This includes all the hospital support staff (cleaners and kitchen staff), security guards who took a personal interest in her well-being, the ambulance staff who joked with her as they drove her across Harare for her off-site dialysis and Zimbabwean immigration officials who were truly compassionate when hearing that her visa had to be extended due to her being in hospital. The South African Embassy staff were also very caring and went out of their way to help over a very difficult time.
This new machine will enable to the National Blood Service of Zimbabwe to reach more people and save more lives. The machine will help obtain individual blood components e.g., red blood cells, platelets and plasma. These are then used for transfusion in different patients to treat various disorders as well as to treat multiple life-threatening conditions through;
- plasma exchange;
- stem cells;
- therapeutic cell removal.
The Belinda’s Gift of Life campaign set a goal to raise $60,000 (roughly ZAR1,000,000) to purchase a new Plasmapheresis machine.
This gift will be the thanks so many have wanted to give to those who helped.
“Firstly, Belinda’s loved ones would like to thank the NBSZ for the unquestioning support they gave to her by providing her full access to one of their limited machines in the country, including staff support for her treatments as well as supplying over 50 units of fresh frozen plasma, brought in at short notice from towns around Zimbabwe.
Secondly, they’d like to thank all the caring medical and support staff at all of the facilities that were involved in Belinda’s treatment, including the Milton Park team, the Dandaro Dialysis clinic, and all of the specialists, ward, and general staff at all of the facilities involved in her treatment.
And lastly, they wish to extend a thank you to the people of Zimbabwe for their humanity and compassion and for the care that was shown both during and after Belinda’s illness.”
Her legacy will live on in this gift and go on to save many more lives, perhaps even more holidaymakers and tourists! Kevin, Belinda’s husband shared a personal message with us.
“Hi. My name is Kevin Estment – Belinda’s husband. It has been a difficult but rewarding journey over the last few months, setting up the “Belinda’s Gift of Life – 60K in 60 days” campaign with friends and family in full support. Throughout this process I have relived the key moments of Belinda’s hospitalisation and the tragedy that followed, over and over again.
I cannot fully express how we went through daily highs and lows, each time we received additional news about blood test results and her impaired kidney function. So when TTP was diagnosed at about 06h00 on day 5 of her hospitalisation and we were informed that Belinda was likely to die within a few days without plasma exchange, we had an agonising wait to hear if a plasmapheresis machine was even available in Harare. As a result of the determined medical team and the National Blood Service of Zimbabwe, the machine was at Belinda’s bedside within 6 hours and her only hope for survival had commenced. She fought for 10 days, but Belinda finally passed away 10 days later after fighting an overwhelming infection.
In telling you this story, I would like to ask you to contribute to the crowdfunding campaign in two ways. Please donate by following the link here . Also – and more importantly – we would like to reach a far greater audience. If you think this is a “Good Thing” to do, please tell all your friends and social media family about our story and giving something back to those with very little that helped so much.”
You can support the cause by donating to the crowdfund here.
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