‘He tells me he will do absolutely anything for me, anything to save me.’
Western Cape, South Africa (30 April 2026) – Six months ago, South Africa fell in love with Michelle and Riaan Naude.
He was the husband who had started making Quartz cutting boards by hand all so he could raise enough money to save his wife’s life. She was the woman fighting to breathe through an airway that had narrowed to almost nothing.
South Africa showed up for them in the most incredible way. The surgery happened and for a little while, there was a sense of relief and looking forward. Until Michelle was given more difficult news. At her three-month follow-up CT scan, it was discovered that the growth in her airway is back. It has already narrowed her breathing by 40%, and it is continuing to close.
“If I’m completely honest, there are moments when it feels like I could just crawl into a deep hole and never want to come out again,” she says. “The fear of going back to where I once was is so overwhelming.” Michelle tells us.
Before her first surgery, Michelle was surviving on oxygen machines, nebulisers, high-dose cortisone and fighting for every single breath through a pinhole opening in her airway. Recently, she walked past someone using the same oxygen machine she once depended on. Just the sound of it stopped her cold.
“That exact noise instantly made my chest tighten. In that moment, it all came rushing back.”
For those who haven’t lived it, Michelle finds a way to put the experience into words.
“It’s now 02:00 am, and I still haven’t slept. I can no longer lie flat, because the moment I do, I struggle to breathe. I’m back to sleeping with 3 – 4 pillows under my head, just trying to get enough air. I can’t remember when I last had proper sleep. The nights are filled with constant coughing, while my husband gently rubs my back, doing everything he can to help me through it. It’s just another very real physical challenge of living with a narrowed airway.” she says.
“Imagine being underwater and needing that one deep breath, or walking up a flight of stairs and reaching the top where your body instinctively wants to breathe in deeply but you simply cannot.” she adds. “All of this takes such a massive emotional toll too. It feels like I am constantly sinking under the weight of it all, and it limits so much of my life. It steals simple interactions with people. It makes me not want to go anywhere or speak to anyone. And yet, we still do. At every market we stand at, I am there beside my husband, telling my story and explaining why we are doing this. Every single time, I cry. At first, after the first operation, those were tears of gratitude and hope. Now…not so much.”
Through all of it, Riaan has been her rock. A source of support and unconditional love for Michelle. He is still making cutting boards, still standing at markets trying to sell them in the hopes to raise enough funds for the urgent procedure she needs.
“From the very beginning of all of this, when he felt so helpless and didn’t know how we were ever going to raise enough money for the first operation, all he wanted was to save me. That is when he started making the cutting boards.
It is incredibly hard work – long hours, physically demanding, and exhausting. Some days his body is so sore that he can barely stand up straight, and he is in so much pain, but he keeps saying the same thing over and over: he will do this for me until he literally cannot anymore.
He tells me he will do absolutely anything for me, anything to save me. His exact words were, ‘I can’t live without you.’ WELL DITTO!!!”
Her mom has been right there alongside Riaan too, as her only child’s champion and fiercest protector.
“They are my two legs when I cannot walk, my arms when I am too tired to lift them,” she says. “I am blessed beyond words.”
There is a window where hope lives, but they need to move fast.
Michelle’s surgeon can still perform a balloon dilation via bronchoscopy, which is a far less invasive procedure than another full surgery, but only while the tissue is still soft. If that window closes and the tissue hardens, it means going back to the operating theatre at far greater cost and far greater risk.
Even now as she struggles to breathe, Michelle refuses to give up on hope. She turns 40 on 31 July and she’s counting on it.
“I want to wear that ‘Just Turned 40’ t-shirt with pride,” she says. “I want to celebrate this beautiful milestone surrounded by the people I love.”
She’s done the maths. If 500 people donated R100 each, she could have the procedure done as early as next week.
“I simply cannot stop believing,” she says. “I am holding on to life. And I am not letting go.”
To help Michelle breathe freely again, visit her online crowdfunding campaign here or purchase one of Riaan’s handcrafted Quartz cutting boards by emailing him directly at rdckitchens@gmail.com.
Sources: GTG Interview.
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