When hearing impaired student Celize Louw stood up to receive her Master's degree in Physiotherapy, it marked the end of a long and sometimes arduous long-distance journey of study.
For Louw (43), this achievement is proof that hard work pays off and that “there are good people everywhere, ready to help you. You just have to ask".
Louw, a mother of two children aged eight and ten, who lives in Port Elizabeth, has worked as a physiotherapist from home for the past 15 years. Her work with young sportspeople made her want to study further – so she registered for a Master's with Stellenbosch University.
Her thesis, titled 'Self-Reported Prevalence, Type, Severity and Management of Musculoskeletal Injuries among High School Rugby Players in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole', entailed the development of a self-reported questionnaire to look at injuries among rugby players at top rugby schools in the Nelson Mandela Bay metropole.
Her journey towards her Master's was a story of “writing and rewriting" and of some “very stressful orals with examiners via Skype" – all in the context of a hearing incapability.
“There are no elevators to success, and I had to take the stairs," said Louw.
In an interview, she ascribed her success to her own hard work but also paid tribute to her husband Jeffrey, her parents, and Dr Linzette Morris, Senior Lecturer/Postgraduate co-ordinator: Division of Physiotherapy, who, she said, went beyond the call of duty to assist her.
Louw was diagnosed with severe sensorineural hearing loss in both ears when she was three years old. She relied on powerful hearings aids and lip-reading to communicate.
Assisted by the Carel du Toit Centre in Tygerberg, which assists hearing impaired children to learn spoken language, Louw attended mainstream schools and matriculated from McLachlan High School, where she also completed her Grade Eight Unisa piano examination.
She later graduated from Stellenbosch University with a Bachelor's degree of Science in Physiotherapy and started working as a physiotherapist in 1999.
As part of her daily practice, Louw found herself working with high school children with sports – particularly rugby – injuries.
“I became curious about the prevalence, type, severity, and management of these injuries in the Nelson Mandela Bay high school population. I wanted to explore these questions through further formal studies. My husband phoned Stellenbosch University and they suggested I do a Master's Degree."
In 2016, while she was structuring her thesis, Louw's hearing suddenly deteriorated. “I could not hear my husband and children speak to me. I was devastated when I thought I would never hear their sweet voices again."
After numerous tests, she was approved for a left cochlear implant. She had the implant later in 2016. “Then the long exhausting road to recovery began. The new sounds made no sense … even my dad sounded like R2D2! It was difficult to adapt to my surroundings."
Her inability to hear music properly remained a source of distress to Louw, as the family loved singing together and played a range of instruments between them.
It was during this trying time, that Morris became a “pillar of strength" to Louw.
Morris had the podcasts of lectures transcribed and added as captions to the podcast videos. Louw was able to access these captioned podcast videos via the internet.
She also communicated regularly with Louw telephonically through her husband and secretary.
“I spent hours and weeks making notes of, and studying, each podcast," Louw said.
“Whenever I went to Tygerberg Hospital to map the cochlear implant, Morris and I would meet, and she would help me structure the thesis and assist with other aspects of the Master's."
Louw's parents drove her around on her visits to Cape Town while her husband kept the home fires burning back in PE.
Her studies had financial consequences: “I had to book fewer patients in order to have time to write. My husband supported me … and Dr Morris managed to arrange for a small bursary to assist me."
While studying, Louw still had to be the “mom" of the house – packing lunches, checking school uniforms and taking her children to extramural activities. She regularly got up at midnight to work undisturbed on her Master's.
“In the end, after much writing and rewriting, with much advice from Dr Morris, I could finally put a thesis together. In the final stretch I had to do an oral with the examiners via Skype. It was very stressful, as even with the video material available, I struggled to lip read properly. Thankfully my husband sat next to me and patiently repeated every question they asked."
Louw is thrilled with her achievement and wants to expand her studies.
Louw's husband and parents attended her graduation and her children watched on the big screen next door. “I'm forever grateful to them, as well as Dr Morris, for the unselfish way they helped. I never heard a hard word from them."
For now, Louw wants to focus on her physio practice. A keen ultra-distance runner – and egged on by Jeffrey – an Ironman Athlete, with whom she completed the Full Ironman in 2007, she hopes to do another marathon.
Morris said when she first went through Louw's application (to do the Master's), she never saw her hearing impairment as an obstacle, but as a challenge.
“Celize has proven that, irrespective of what disability you have, you can achieve anything. She has shown such tenacity, despite her hearing impairment and having to do distant learning. She never said, 'I can't do this.' I admire her greatly.
“I am exceptionally proud to see Celize receiving her degree, knowing what she's been through. She's been a true inspiration."
