Belief in prayer becomes your only consolation when nature strikes in a manner that is bound to tear your heart apart.
That is how Joyce Lamati reacted when she got a call telling her her son Ludumo had been hospitalised after collapsing in his corner shortly after he had been stopped in the 12th round by WBC silver featherweight boxing champion Nick Ball in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on May 2.
“The caller asked if I was Ludumo’s mother and I said yes; he paused a little and said Ludumo is in a hospital and he collapsed after his fight,” she said, a few minutes after touching down at OR Tambo International Airport on Thursday morning.
She was in the company of her boxer son and his fiancee. Lamati was his bubbly self, with his sense of humour intact, making it difficult to imagine it was the same person who was reported to be fighting for his life after being put in an induced coma.
To make matters worse, Lamati underwent serious head surgery and spent almost two moths in a hospital bed.
The expectation was of someone frail using a walking stick and unable to recognise his mates. But when manager Larry Wainstein and his son Marc, trainers Phumzile Mathyila and boxers Sikho Nqothole and Asemahle Wellem approached to welcome him, it was Lamati who first called out to them with his naughty laughter before hugging Wainstein.
“That is what prayer has done to my son,” said Joyce. “I don’t remember what I did after that call but one thing I can share with you is the hardest prayer I have ever made. The thought that my son is in hospital far away in Belfast, where I could not reach him, killed me.
“There was nothing I could do but pray, pray and pray. You know I don’t like boxing and don’t even watch his fights but the least I can do is to support him in what he loves to do. Neighbours came to our house and they, too, prayed, and I thank all of them from the bottom of my heart.
“Government departments in the Eastern Cape helped us to get passports, and Larry played his part, and we flew out to Belfast. Thanks to all of them.”
But worse was to come after arriving in Belfast, she said, showing visible signs of emotion. “I walked into the ward and I saw my son lying there and he started crying,” she said, looking at him him as he cracked jokes with his buddies.
She said Lamati had never cried like that even when he was a baby, and the scene still haunted her.
“I prayed – and even his doctors were shocked by his speedy recovery. Thanks to all South Africans for their prayers and well wishes and I can’t thank Larry enough – and his friend (Stephen) in Belfast – who looked after us,” she said in parting.
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