On 28 July, 2001, Mavis Tshivhenga (32) of Dopeni, in the Nzhelele area, gave birth a to a bright, bubbly and healthy baby girl, Dembe, whose future looked very bright. But today, the five-year-old girl has been reduced into a bedridden prisoner who cannot even move her hand to her mouth.

The frail girl has a disfigured head and she survives on soft food while she needs attention every minute of her life. Mavis says she is now tired of brooding in silence and needs community members to help her raise her child, which she views as a special angel from God.

To add more salt to the wound, the disappointed mother says she has been battling with Siloam Hospital to acquire a wheelchair for her girl, but her efforts have been fruitless for the past three years. She said she had also requested physiotherapy for the little girl in the hospital but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

Mavis explains how the life of her little angel turned into a living hell: "My baby was born very healthy, but in October 2001, when she was three months old, her head started bulging. I took her to Siloam Hospital and she was later transferred to Polokwane provincial hospital. Doctors said she was suffering from hydrocephalus and they said the fluids in her head needed to be drained."

She said the head of her child was in good shape, although it was bulging before the fluids were drained. "Doctors inserted shunt pipes in her head to drain the fluids, and after the draining, her head did not return to normal. It became disfigured and it can clearly be seen on the head where the pipes were inserted. Since then, she has lost the use of both her limbs and she has become frail. She could not even speak or do anything for herself. She has been bedridden since then."

Mavis added that the doctors gave her a discharge letter and told her that what they had done was enough. "The letter said I should go to the local hospital whenever I have a problem which relates to the baby. I am disappointed because I need a wheelchair for my baby but I have been waiting for so long for one from the Siloam Hospital."

Mavis, who works as a shop assistant, said she also had other two children to look after. "Although the girl receives a disability grant, the money is too little to cater for all her needs. I have to hire someone to look after her when I am at work and also buy disposable nappies and special food for her. I am appealing to good Samaritans to come to my rescue because I love my baby. I just want to see her play and smile again."

Mirror called Siloam Hospital on Wednesday morning to find out about the delays of the wheelchair, but nobody was available to talk to us.

Community members who would like to assist can call Mavis at 073 218 2040 or alternatively visit her at Dopeni village, near Tshikombani, on the western side of Dombo Scrap yard.