TheAubrey MasangoShow

12-year-old Nangamso Ngangani is in Grade 7 at school in Malibu.

She has been a patient at Red Cross Children's Hospital for close to 6 years.

Her story is inspiring...

Nmagamso's grandmother noticed something did not seem right with the child's upper body. After the second visit to the clinic, a nurse referred the little girl to Khayelitsha Hospital.

She says a TB test was conducted but the results were negative. A biopsy also proved fruitless.

They were struggling, they could not figure out what about me was wrong.

— Nangamso Ngangani, 12-year-old Red Cross patient

She says she was taken to Tygerberg Hospital where the tests were redone - but still no conclusive results.

Then she was brought to Red Cross Children's Hospital.

There, she was given an echocardiogram and ultrasound.

They found that my heart was floating in water.

— Nangamso Ngangani, 12-year-old Red Cross patient

She describes how she underwent an operation to fit a tube which would drain the water that was in her heart.

She says doctors told her what was wrong. She had SLE but laughingly says she does not know the full name.

But I don't know what is SLE... it's a long word but you can Google it.

— Nangamso Ngangani, 12-year-old Red Cross patient

Systemic lupus erythematosus is also known as Lupus or SLE.

She was informed that she had kidney failure.

The tears just fell from my eyes and I thought oh gosh how did that happen?

— Nangamso Ngangani, 12-year-old Red Cross patient

And my mother was also crying, but I told my mother never to lose hope.

— Nangamso Ngangani, 12-year-old Red Cross patient

She was treated with dialysis for a number of years. But she was convinced she would receive a donor kidney.

And her dream came true just before Christmas one year.

My mom said guess what, you got a kidney.

— Nangamso Ngangani, 12-year-old Red Cross patient

She describes how she became involved in the hospital's RX Radio.

This article first appeared on CapeTalk : Young Nangamso shares how Red Cross Children's Hospital saved her life