Elizabeth Prinsloo - Step by Step

When I crossed paths with Elizabeth for the second time in my life, I was sitting at Aroma, and the sense that this woman’s story was one that needed to be told took hold of me. Because I knew her story, I recognised that the slender, sophisticated blonde that was standing in front of me had many more layers to her story, but I also realised that if I saw her through anybody else’s eyes, you would see a very different person. Looking at her, one could never see the pain that plagued her childhood years. You would never guess that she has competed at two Paralympic Games, and earned a bronze medal in the process. Elizabeth’s story is an integral part of herself, but it is a part that is seldom seen by those that do not know her. It is a privilege to be able to share Elizabeth’s story with all of the readers this week, because Elizabeth does not carry her past with her as chains, but rather as armour, a testimony that because she not only survived, but thrived, she is capable of anything.

Elizabeth’s story starts as all of stories do, when she was born. She arrived into the world as a normal and healthy baby, but was born prematurely at 32 weeks. Between the time that she was born and when she was ten days old, she contracted an infection that affected the growth of her right leg, destroying her right hip join. As a result, the growth of her right leg was stunted, and by the time she was 13 years old, the difference between her two legs was 15cm. At that point, her orthopaedic surgeon recommended that she undergo a leg-lengthening operation over a process of six months to even out the big difference between her two legs. This was a very invasive procedure where the leg is broken, and over time, the two pieces are pulled apart, eventually resulting in the leg gaining the length that it did not have. Although Elizabeth did not know it yet, this would be an event which would alter the course of her life dramatically.

“I was completely unprepared for this. I thought that I was going to go in for the operation, and that although there would be pins and screws attached to my leg, I would be on crutches and go back to school. I had no idea how impactful this procedure would be.” Six months later, Elizabeth was still at home, in unbelievable pain. “It’s very hard to describe what it feels like to live with that amount of pain. At first you think that you’re going to die. Then you hope you’re going to die, and eventually you realise that unfortunately, you’re not going to die that easily, that you’re going to live through this and you’re going to survive.” Although Elizabeth had gained all of the length in her leg at the end of the six months, she suffered severe unexpected complications during the process. She was supposed to be exactly the same person than before, except the Elizabeth that existed before the operation was a happy and healthy child and the one afterwards was vastly different. She was completely dependent on walking with a crutch, and was in constant intense pain. Going back to school after an absence of nearly half a year was excruciating, because unlike her classmates, her situation forced her to grow up, which caused a disconnection between them. Because of her experience, she could no longer identify with her classmates, and her classmates could not identify with her. “I ended up being a severely disabled child after the operation. I couldn’t walk without my crutch, my leg couldn’t bend, and my knee had almost no function.”

As a child, Elizabeth had always loved swimming, and after the operation she was eager to get back into the pool as quickly as she possibly could. Unfortunately the sport which had held so much fascination for her in the past had lost its magic. The largely-reduced function in her leg rendered her unable to do things that most swimmers took for granted, like tumble-turns in the water, proper dives, or backstroke starts. Eventually, she was so disheartened by her experience that she came to the point where she was ready to give up. The training hurt her leg and she no longer got the same pleasure that she used to.

She stood on the starting block of what she was sure was going to be her last gala, a swimming meet for young swimmers with disabilities. “I was at this gala, and I was absolutely sure that this was going to be my last one, and then one of the trainers actually came to me and said that he thought I would be able to swim in the Paralympics, and I got so upset. I just thought, ‘What do you mean that I’m disabled?’ I’d never thought of myself as disabled before. He continued to say that I would be competing against people that have the same level of impairment as myself. It would allow me the opportunity to compete on a level playing field. At that stage, it was still a no in my head, but then he showed me the world ranking list.” The same time that Elizabeth had swum earlier that day in the gala would have placed her third in the world. After she was classified as an S10 category swimmer (the classifications span between S1, being severely disabled, and S10, only moderately disabled), she immediately qualified for the Atlanta Paralympic Games about 6 months before it was scheduled to commence. At that stage, Elizabeth was only 16 years old, yet when she returned to South Africa, it was with a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle. Four years later, she also competed in the Sydney Paralympics.

Whilst Elizabeth was telling this story, I tried to make the correlation between the story that was being told, and the person to whom I was talking. I did not recognise the girl that Elizabeth was describing to me – but it was only after she explained the next step in her life, that I came to a realisation. The woman that I knew had grown out of the painful experiences that she had put up with for her entire life, and the next step in her story was the bridging gap between past and present.

“As I got older, the level of pain that I experienced got completely out of hand, and the swimming training added to the discomfort that I experienced. The next logical step for me was to have a hip replacement.” However, in her case, it was not that easy. Elizabeth was 18 when she started to see different doctors to discuss opinions on having a hip replacement, but because she was so young, she could not find somebody that was willing to take the risk of operating on her. The damage in her hip was so extensive that she would only have enough bone to suffice for three hip replacements in her lifetime, quoting her that one hip replacement would last approximately five years. “We went to one doctor that said that my current pain was so bad, that it actually couldn’t get worse. He recommended that I do the hip replacement and hope that technology would catch up. Another doctor warned that it would be detrimental. I was so devastated at these conflicting opinions, that for the next two years, I didn’t do anything.” It was on the plane home back from the Sydney Paralympic Games that Elizabeth turned to her mother and told her that she could not do this anymore. She wanted the hip replacement, and that is exactly what she did. Elizabeth cites this operation as bringing about a miracle-level of change in her life. “I remember waking up in ICU after the operation and having less pain than I did the day before, and I have never experienced a single day of pain in my hip afterwards. It changed my life.”

What not many people understand however, is that experiencing the level of pain that Elizabeth did and going through what she did, she not only needed a physical transformation, but also a mental one. In the same way that the physical repair required action, and the decision of undergoing a hip replacement, refurbishing her emotional health was also a process. I have such a deep respect for Elizabeth, because she is one of the strongest and most positive people that I know, and it needs to be said that this is absolutely a choice and a mind-set. Although Elizabeth was thrust into such a difficult circumstance of which she had no control, the way her life played out afterwards was completely in her own hands, and with that responsibility, she has moulded a life of which anyone would be proud.

Another aspect of this talented woman is her passion for her work. Elizabeth works as a business strategist and management consultant, and in her own words: “I help businesses find solutions to problems, and I give them a fresh perspective, and specialise in franchise consulting.” It is quite beautiful to see Elizabeth when she talks about her work: her face lights up as she begins to explain the finer details, and you can really tell that even if she was given the opportunity, she would never want to do anything else. “I have a very short interest span, so what I’m doing right now probably isn’t going to be the same as what I will be doing in six months’ time. Once I’ve conquered something, I just go, ‘Right, onto the next thing!’” Her current obsession is with customers: how companies should focus on the needs of their markets instead of designing brilliant products that nobody needs.

I will never forget one of the things that Elizabeth said to me during our interview. Without realising it, I keep fixating on the point of how incredible Elizabeth is to have gone through such hardships and to become such a strong person. At a stage, Elizabeth pauses to think for a few moments, and then replies: “You know, I don’t think that I did anything extraordinary. Those were just things that happened to me, which I had to deal with.” The point here is that Elizabeth is not disabled, and she never was. Her remarkable character comes from the fact that she has never been complacent about her circumstances, and never felt sorry about them. Within her capacity, she reached for the stars, and in doing so, her capacity grew and grew. It is very rare to meet a person that has such wisdom and insight into the world of growing past hardships, and if you ever have the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth, be very well aware that you have just met such a person.