Officer's back at work

Seriously injured after shots, he makes gruelling journey to a new way of life.

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BRAVE: ACCEPTANCE AND CREATIVITY WERE KEY TO ACHIEVING HIS GOALS.

Security officer Vincent Kwananda, 41, was on duty at a garage shop in Delmas, Mpumalanga, when three armed robbers stormed in and shot him.

The gunshots fractured his Ti and T2 thoracic vertebrae, leaving him with critical injuries.

"When I woke up from a coma in hospital, they told me what had happened. I didn't ask many questions. I couldn't remember anything," says Kwananda of that fateful day in February last year.

And so began a gruelling journey to a new way of life to regain his independence.

Dr Aneesa Khan, a general practitioner with an interest in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Netcare Rehabilitation Hospital, says Kwananda sustained serious, life-changing injuries in the shooting.

"His injuries were addressed at the Netcare Alberton Hospital.

Six weeks later, after he was medically stable, he came to us for rehabilitation," she says.

"When patients first arrive, they're just starting to recover from an acute, traumatic event.