Zakithi Nkosi.
RENOWNED businesswoman and philanthropist Daphne Mashile-Nkosi fought back the tears as she stood on a makeshift podium at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital, leading a celebration into the life of her late daughter, Zakithi Nkosi.
Trying very hard to control her emotion, the visibly distraught mother told an intimate crowd that had gathered to mark Zakithi’s 29th “heavenly birthday” that she could barely fall asleep the previous night as she grappled with crafting a message for “Zaza”, as Zakithi was affectionately known.
In June 2016, Zaza was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive blood disorder medically described as hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) shortly after her 19th birthday. She passed on six months later after the family could find no stem cell match for her. She could have turned 29 on June 1.
The full-of-life teenager “Zaza” had passed her Grade 12 with remarkable aggregate marks and was on the verge of leaving the country to attend a university in the UK when she was suddenly grounded by a diagnosis of a stem cell anomaly.
