Signs of progress in Abby’s condition

“Abby is slowly waking up, and responding to our voices. Her little eyes are slowly opening and she is able to give us little squeezes of her hand.” 

Called “Christmas Rock’s Angel”,10-year-old Abigail de Lange has been in the paediatric ICU at Life Beacon Bay with severe skull and head trauma after being hit by a telephone pole on Thursday August 8.

Family representative, sister Loghan de Lange, said: “She is still on the ventilator and will remain that way until she is fully awake.

“We are taking it day by day and are thanking God for the improvements that we see daily.”

Abigail was walking from a local playground when a delivery truck leaving the grocery store snagged a sagging telephone line stretching across the main road.

The force pulled over the pole it was connected to, and the falling pole then hit the young girl on the back of the head.

A BackaBuddy campaign by cousin Nikita van Ghent is nearing its goal of R500,000 — now sitting at R425,261. 

The family does not have medical aid to cover the expenses, but donations have flooded in, either through the BackaBuddy or as private EFT donations,  the final amount of which they are still calculating.

Friday last week was “Abby Day”, a civvies day started by Kidd’s Beach Primary School, where she is a grade 3 pupil. 

Supporters from schools and businesses dressed in blue — her favourite colour — and paid between R10 to R20. 

Headmaster Bradley Lawrence said: “Abby is a sweet little girl. We as a school are a family and need to assist and support the parents because medical costs are very high.

“Each child paid R10 and this brought in about R9,000. The final amount is still being calculated. 

“It’s very sensitive and very emotional. The learners came together and formed a heart and we all said ‘Abby we love you’!”

Lawrence said participating businesses were responsible for their own donation collection and handovers.

“We sent through the BackaBuddy link, what comes from the school must go to Abby, each organisation that donates must follow the link.

“It would not be right for us to handle cash of that nature.

“This is going to be a long battle, Abby is going to come out of hospital and need rehabilitation, this doesn’t end here.

“We need to push as much as we can to sustain the child, we hope to have future fundraising initiatives.” 

Berea Primary School principal Tiana Zeelie said some children went beyond the R10 donation on Abby Day and in total raised about R1,000. 

“We joined in, everyone came in blue, our kids were very keen to do it, they know all about Abby, some even gave their tuck shop money.

“We are a small school but it was so sweet to see. We really try hard to teach them to give back, some brought an extra R20 because they wanted to join in to help Abby.

“It’s really nice to see the community coming together like this.”   

Other participants included staff from the Kidd’s Beach Tea Room, The Kidd’s Beach PostNet, and more. 

Nationally, this included Bearing Man Group World (BMG) where Abigail’s mother, Raelene de Lange, works in the East London branch.

Group marketing executive Darryn Wright said the invite to “Abby Day” extended across the country to about 2,000 staff members. 

“It goes without saying that children are our biggest asset in society.

“This story is very close to my own heart, as my child is actually the same age as Abby.

“As BMG, we are fully committed to our people and their families.

“We asked each person who wore blue in support of Abby’s cause to donate R20 each — an amount that BMG matched.”

“Additionally, our CSI [corporate social investment] committee donated R50,000 towards her hospital costs.

“Many of our staff also donated to her ‘Back a Buddy’ campaign.”

Wright said the amounts were still coming in, and a final tally was being calculated. 

“Over R8,000 was raised at our Johannesburg-based head office alone.

“The BMG family is always there for our peers and their families. This story deeply affected us and we had to jump on board to assist.” 

Find the BackaBuddy campaign to donate to Abigail’s medical expenses at: 

https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/abby

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