Anna Modise and her late son Lucky Jeremiah

I FELT SOMETHING WAS WRONG

This photograph was taken at a party at the Life Esidimeni facility in Randfontein. Even though he was blind and couldn’t talk, Lucky Jeremiah loved parties. His mother Anna says that she really wanted to bring him home for his 50th birthday.

Lucky Jeremiah Modise was moved to Cullinan Care and Rehabilitation Centre without Anna knowing and she spent two months desperately looking for him.

‘I felt something was wrong,’ she says.

In July, Anna eventually found out that he was at Precious Angels. She called and asked the person on the phone if her son was there and how he was.

‘I can’t say anything. Who are you?’ the person said.

‘I am his mother,’ Anna replied and the person put down the phone. She tried calling again.

Eventually she was called by Precious Angels who told her that Lucky Jeremiah had died. If she didn’t fetch the body, they would bury him. Anna then spent three days trying to find Lucky Jeremiah’s body. ‘My God! All I wanted was my son’s body, and I drove so far just to find him.’

Finally, she found her son’s decomposed body in the mortuary of the hospital. ‘I can never forget how he looked there. I can never get that picture out my mind. No mother should have to find her child like that.’