Article as printed in the Volksblad, 29 August 2022.
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A Bloemfontein couple shed tears of joy and sadness yesterday when they walked over the finish line of the Comrades marathon in honor of their late daughter with a banner of hers.
For Dewald (40) and Yolandi (37) Fourie, it was important to complete the race in memory of Karla to find peace.
She died on December 10, 2009 after falling into their pool five days earlier. She was only 22 months old.
She was taken out of the pool and Dewald administered CPR on her. She was then rushed to Life Rosepark Hospital, where she spent five days in the intensive care unit before her parents heard she was brain dead.
When the Fouries crossed the finish line yesterday after 11 hours and 33 minutes for Karla, they found relief, says Dewald. “At 11 hours and 33 minutes we made peace. We have two other little girls and we are going to live for them now. It is important to us that they stop seeing that we are hurting. We are closing this book now, but we will not forget her.”
Dewald is a branch manager at ICT Link and Yolandi a letting agent at LeapFrog.
He told his wife in 2018 that he wanted to complete this grueling race of around 90 km the following year for the tenth anniversary of Karla’s death. Yolandi agreed to do it with him. In 2018, he was inspired by Xolani Luvuno, who completed this race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban with just one leg.They then started training for it, he at a weight of 145 kg. He shed 40 kg, and in the meantime another 5 kg. Yolandi has since lost 14 kg.
Dewald used to be an avid runner. In 2019, Yolandi was injured in a car accident three months before the Comrades and she could no longer do it with him. Dewald says he missed the cut-off time for that leg of the race by two seconds on the first attempt at 80 km and was therefore unable to continue.
After that, the race could not take place for two years due to the pandemic.
In 2020, after contracting Covid-19, he could not run further than 3 km. This year, the couple started training fully for this race from February. They ran around 1,200 km until the race.
They joined the Center City Titaniums Athletics Club at the end of April to help prepare them for this task.
The couple are also keen cyclists and have, among other things, completed the Cape Town cycle tour. Dewald and Yolandi each sent Karla a yellow balloon at the starting point of yesterday’s race.
On the back of their shirts was a picture of Karla – the same picture that was on the banner they carried over the finish line.
They were by each other’s side throughout the races. A friend of theirs brought the banner to them about 1 km before the finish line so that they could finish their race that way.
Dewald wore a cross he made for the race in honor of Karla throughout the race. This cross, which is slightly larger than his hands, will be attached to her tombstone with cement.
“I told her (Yolandi) I love her and she kissed me. We cried, pushed and held each other,” he says of the moment when they were finally able to finish the race for Karla.
Dewald plans to take part in the race again, with Karla’s picture on his back. “This (that race) will always be in her honor.” The couple’s other daughters, Kayla and Natasha, are now 15 and 11 respectively.
Natasha was born on 2 December 2010 and her parents three days later, exactly one year after running in there with Karla, walking out of the same hospital with their youngest.
This is an incredible thought for the couple. “Two hours later than we ran into the hospital with Karla,we ended up walking out with Natasha.”
