Chronicle Editor
Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
MORE than a year after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, renowned boxing trainer Philip ‘Striker’ Ndlovu’s condition has deteriorated rapidly and he’s in dire need of resources for dialysis.
The terminal illness has literally confined the 66-year-old to bed, leaving him pondering on where he will get his next meal and when he’ll get help to enable him to go for treatment.
He has already skipped four dialysis sessions, of which he was doing two a week.
According to a relative, Precious Zhawu, Ndlovu needs at least US$120 to buy a “temporal” catheter for use.
He had started dialysis sessions last month, but was forced to discontinue due to lack of funds.
“He is supposed to go for dialysis two times a week, but has missed the last two weeks’ sessions because of lack of funds. He needs about US$120 for the catheters. About a fortnight ago, he mistakenly stepped on the tube and we had to rush him to hospital as he bled profusely. They only covered the wound and gave him medication, but his condition continues to deteriorate,” said Zhawu.
Chronicle Sport visited Ndlovu at his Ejingeni Flat in Makokoba on Wednesday morning and found the coach bedridden in the one room he uses.
Zhawu visited him just after 9am to feed him porridge after taking his first medication of the day.
The once bubbly and jovial trainer, has become a pale shadow of his former self, with the cheerful and bouncy, athletic picture of him having vanished.
He trembled continuously as he ate porridge.
One would be forgiven for thinking that the veteran boxing trainer is coming from a heavy sparring session due to his swollen face.
It’s clear that the prostate cancer has worn out Ndlovu, with dialysis further draining energy from the former Tshaka Youth Club boxing trainer.
He no longer speaks with that commanding voice, and one can detect the pain in his faint, hoarse voice. He occasionally drops a tear while relating his ordeal.
“I never thought that one day I would be bedridden. Look, I can’t do anything, I can’t even go out because I can’t go up and down those three steps. My condition has seriously deteriorated, the church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and a couple of friends have occasionally come to my rescue, but I am still short on getting proper treatment. I humbly appeal to well-wishers, businesses and even the government for assistance,” Ndlovu said. – @ZililoR
Online Reporter