Celiwe Maseko, the second person in Africa to undergo a skin-cloning transplant, could find herself back home in Kagiso, Gauteng, before the end of May after having spent almost five months in hospital, according to her plastic surgeon Dr Ridwan Mia.
In January 2013, 35% of the five-year-old’s body was tragically burnt after her dress caught fire when a friend threw a lit match on her. She was admitted to Netcare Garden City Hospital in Johannesburg and underwent a R423 000 skin cloning transplant on April 25.
Maseko underwent the same ground-breaking operation that was done on Pippie Kruger at the same hospital in June last year. Kruger, who suffered third-degree burns across 80% of her body, made headlines after Mia and his team used new skin cloned from the girl’s skin cells to cover her burnt wounds. Both Kruger and Maseko’s skin was cloned at a laboratory at Genzyme in Boston, Massachusetts before being flown to South Africa.
“Celiwe is doing well, and next week we will remove the second wound dressings on her. We are hoping to release her from hospital within the next two or three weeks,” Mia, told the Mail & Guardian.
The funds for the operation on Maseko were donated by Kruger’s mother, Anice Kruger, through the family’s Gesiggie Foundation – which was set up after the girl’s skin transplant last year. “The cost is inclusive of everything, including 14 skin grafts,” Mia said.
'We have forgiven'
Maseko’s mother, Katlego, said her daughter’s “accident drained her family emotionally and financially, and they don’t have enough words to thank the Krugers’ foundation”.
She said her family has forgiven the child who caused Maseko’s accident.
“It was very difficult because I had to teach Celiwe about forgiveness and I am proud to say that we have forgiven and we understand that the children were playing. It was never about blaming. It has always been about getting my daughter the help she needs.”
Maseko was sedated after the transplant of her cloned skin to prevent her from moving around too much and disrupting the skin from grafting. The process of gradually starting to wake her up started on Thursday last week, and she was fully conscious on Tuesday.
According to Mia, the five-year-old won’t need more surgeries until her teenage years. He could however not confirm how long it will take for her skin to be fully healed.
“Her case is unique and interesting because she has different pigment cells to those of Pippie. When you do this kind of skin transplant on a person with white pigmentation – like in the case of Pippie – the skin will blend much quicker because it is almost the same colour as her skin, but in the case of a darker pigmentation like Celiwe’s, it will take a long time. The colour will however eventually change over time,” Mia said.