21-year-old’s crucial kidney dialysis treatment puts family under financial strain

Health-e News 21-year-old’s crucial kidney dialysis treatment puts family under financial strain At 21, Brandon Booysen from Randfontein in Gauteng is bedridden with end-stage kidney disease and severe bone complications after living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) since childhood.

He cannot sit upright for more than a few minutes because of severe pain and breathing difficulties.

His mother, 41-year-old Lucille Booysen says going to a restaurant, watching a movie, visiting friends or simply seeing the outside world are no longer easy activities.

“It’s heartbreaking to see my son suffer when he is supposed to go out into the world and live life,” says Lucille.

Brandon was born with several complex medical conditions affecting his kidney, bladder and spine, Lucille says.

He was diagnosed with stage-three CKD in 2009 when he was four years old.

Lucille says Brandon has undergone more than fifty surgeries and medical procedures, involving among other things, his bladder, legs, joints, bones and muscles.

For the first twelve years since he was diagnosed, Lucille says Brandon was treated in the public healthcare system, first at Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital and later at Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital.

He started dialysis treatment in 2018 at the age of 13.

When he was 16, Lucille says his renal team suggested that he move to private healthcare to ensure access to the level of dialysis treatment he needed.

The family moved his care to the private sector towards the end of 2021.

Dialysis treatment in the public vs private healthcare sectors Access to dialysis treatment for patients with chronic kidney disease remains unequal between South Africa’s public and private health sectors.

In an August 2025 parliamentary reply, the Health Ministry reported that Gauteng had seven public dialysis units compared with 77 in the private sector.

Nationally, there were 32 dialysis units in public health facilities compared to 261 units in the private healthcare sector according to the ministry’s written replies.