Shaninlea Visser is a 34 year old mother and business woman who had the terrible misfortune of being bitten by a mongoose, which caused her to contract a rare bacterial infection.
The infection took her to ICU, where her organs failed, a ventilator kept her alive, and countless treatments were unsuccessful upon her coma-induced body. Hope wore thin.
And yet, somehow, her white blood cell count started to climb. The fight was not over. The boxing gloves not yet off. A chance of survival began to emerge, but it was not without payment. The price? Her arms, legs and half her face.
Rather than ending her story in tragedy, Shan showed up with more fight and resilience than ever before. Without spoiling the tale too much, Shan did not go on to have a normal life. She’s gone on to lead a brilliant life. An inspiring one. A life where “can’t” is never an option, where positively rules her heart.
She’s become a talkshow hostess hoping to change the world through sharing stories of South African heroes who took their, quite literal, scars of all kind and rewrote the script to become leaders, authors, entrepreneurs and motivational speakers.
You can check out The Shan Show Intro here:
Her first episode, with Costa Carastavrakis tells the story of a man who went from being addicted to crystal meth to becoming an author, comedian, actor and motivational speaker.
In her second episode, which will air this Wednesday, she talks to Natalie Nicholson, a suicide survivor who is now a life coach. Their conversation touches on mental health awareness, especially in a social media oriented world. Baring in mind recent stories like #Lufuno, it’s an incredibly relevant topic.
The show is brought to you by the same crew that made Survivor SA and The Voice, Alfacam SA and Blade. It’s available on Youtube, Alfastream SA.
Greg Nefdt of Alfacam and Warren Bleksley of Blade believe that Shan’s show is something different and inspiring, especially in an era where we as a collective nation have had to deal with the devastating impacts of the pandemic, and for many of us, go into survival mode in different ways.
“Shan humbles us. She reminds us that overcoming great turbulence is possible at a time when we all need that reminder,” said Greg Nefdt, a producer and owner of Alfacam SA.
Picture: Supplied