Enough is enough by Robyn Louw
On Saturday, 7 April 2018, during the running of the Gr1 SA Classic at Turffontein, Majestic Mambo stumbled, dislodging SA Champion Jockey, Anthony Delpech. While the rest of the field – including the on-course ambulance – continued across the finish line, Anthony was left lying at the 350m mark. While time stands still in situations like that and everything feels exaggerated, it would be not be unfair to say that too much time elapsed before Anthony was attended to.
From the track, the first responders transferred him into the on course ambulance, which drove him to the track’s first aid facility. There, Anthony was seen by the Chief Medical Officer and despite complaining of pain in his hands and feet, was deemed to have concussion. He was transferred into another ambulance and transported by road to Milpark Hospital’s casualty department.
His wife Candice, who unusually was watching from home in Durban, immediately left home and was making her way to the airport to catch a flight to Joburg. While driving to the airport, she was having to field calls, trying to relay Anthony’s Medical Aid details in order to get him admitted as somehow, these did not travel with him.
Sequence of events
By the time Candice arrived at the hospital at 8pm on Saturday evening, the hospital was ready to discharge Anthony and send him home after a CT scan had picked up nothing out of the ordinary. Tex Lerena was present and insisted that the correct protocol for a head injury was overnight admission for observation. Luckily they listened and at 10pm Anthony was re-admitted into a general ward, with Candice in a chair by his side.
After a difficult night, Anthony was next seen by a doctor at 6am on Sunday morning and an MRI scheduled for lunchtime. Still complaining of pain in his hands and feet as well as having increasing difficulty breathing, it was not until 9pm on Sunday night that Anthony finally had his vital signs checked, at which point it was discovered that his oxygen saturation levels were at 52 – dangerously below the accepted norm of 95-100.
On Monday, Anthony was seen by a neurosurgeon who advised that the MRI results revealed a herniated disc in his neck which was exerting pressure on his spinal cord. Surgery was scheduled for the following day. The surgical team talked Anthony and Candice through the proposed operation on Tuesday morning, explaining that it entailed the removal of the herniated disc material, a bone graft to be inserted into the disc space, followed by a cervical fusion which entails screwing the upper and lower vertebrae to a metal plate to stabilise the joint. When Anthony nodded his understanding, the doctor exclaimed, “Don’t move your head, you can sever your spinal cord.” “I was horrified,” says Candice.
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www.sportingpost.co.za/2018/04/anthony-d...h-racecourse-safety/
