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Sweetness Beteck was studying towards her honours degree in biokinetics when she was involved in a near-fatal car crash that left her with short-term memory loss.
Despite her amnesia, the 39-year-old from Potchefstroom in the North West managed to continue her studies and was recently awarded her PhD in human movement science.
Sweetness now works as a biokineticist for the South African National Defence Force.
She tells YOU her story.
“My recent graduation was a huge celebration. My husband, Richard, my mum, Stephelinah, my twin brothers, cousins, nieces and co-research supervisor were all at my graduation to celebrate something that's been years in the making.
In 2005, I enrolled at North West University to study towards a bachelor of science in human movement which is a prerequisite for an honours in biokinetics. But my studies were almost derailed because of a near-fatal accident.
I was driving to campus from my mom's house in Mbombela, Mpumalanga in my first car on 7 July 2009 when I was involved in a head-on collision with a bakkie.
I don’t remember much because I had a head injury and suffered post-traumatic amnesia.
My left rib was fractured and it pierced my lung, which caused internal bleeding. I also fractured my left clavicle but the main injury was the laceration on my head.
I’m told I was in a coma for three weeks after the crash.
When I woke up from the coma, I was confused and couldn't remember much. I knew who I was but I was in a different time space. My father had passed away in 2004 and I believed he was alive. I was confused about who the president was.
My family, church members and colleagues came to visit and support me but they would just agree with me instead of rectifying me because doctors explained that my memory loss would pass and I would eventually regain my memory.
For a while, I was totally in my own world. I believed I was a doctor in biokinetics but at the time I was studying towards my honours. I also believed I was a general in my department in the SANDF.
After waking from the coma, I was moved from the high care unit to a rehabilitation ward where I was treated by a team of specialists including a psychologist, occupational therapist and neurosurgeon.
I also needed a physiotherapist to teach me how to breathe after my lung injury.
Although doctors drained the blood from my lung, they couldn't operate on my clavicle because the injury was too close to a nerve. I couldn’t use my right hand at the time and doing anything with one hand was quite hard.
Having met several patients in the rehab ward who were missing limbs, I was grateful to have all of mine.
After three months in hospital, my clavicle healed and I could use my arm again.
I was sent home for a week so I could readjust to normal life. I went back to the hospital again and after two weeks I was finally discharged.
As time went by I started remembering little things, like who the president was, but it took a while for all the memories to come flooding back.
Prior to the accident, I was part of the department of defence's youth foundation programme, then a year later I did the military skills development programme with the South African National Defence Force.
After weeks at home, my supervisor at the defence force suggested that I come back to work as it might trigger my memories.
I returned to the biokinetics practice but I wasn’t attending class.
My supervisor arranged for me to see a neuropsychologist to determine my readiness to resume my studies. The academic leaders studied my marks and work history and made the decision that I could join the honour’s group in 2010.
In the previous year I was in the top three in class. But a year later I just didn’t remember anything I had studied previously.
Our classes ran from 8am to 4pm and my attention span was short during class. Sitting in class was intense, it was quite frustrating. I recall looking at the results for a test we did one day and bursting into tears when I saw I was right at the bottom.
One time I spent the whole night studying because I wanted to pass a test. But when I went to write the test, I just couldn’t remember anything. I was still recovering so I shouldn’t have burned the midnight oil.
Over time my memories started slowly returning and I was able to retain information.
With the support of my family, I passed my honours and enrolled for my master's degree. For my master's, I had to do research and write a thesis, and I was doing my internship in biokinetics.
To make things harder, one of my colleagues moved and I had to see more patients. It wasn’t easy, but because of the accident, I was able to empathise more with my patients.
I met my husband of five years at university while I was doing my master's. After finishing his master's in Finland, he came to SA to study towards his PhD.
For my master’s thesis I looked at the risk factors of non-communicable diseases among black Africans from rural areas.
The topic was close to my heart because my grandmother passed away from diabetes and my aunt and mom have diabetes.
My PhD was a continuation of my master’s dissertation and I submitted my findings last year.
Even though I was told I might develop epilepsy in two years because of the accident, I didn’t. I got my memory back and I was able to study fully and live a normal life.
I'm looking forward to the future. I'm a devout Christian and my faith in God has carried me through. I believe God has a plan for me and no matter what I will make it."
