Rebekah enjoys a new lease on life

“I’m really excited my trachea hole has closed up,” laughs six-year-old Rebekah van Rooyen when asked what she is most looking forward to in 2024. By ‘trachea hole’, she means the tracheostomy stoma in her windpipe that once helped her breathe but excluded her from the fun and games that most other six-year-olds take for granted. Now that the stoma has healed, Rebekah can’t wait to make her wishes come true by visiting the beach, swimming in the sea, taking up judo and doing all the other things she had never been able to enjoy.