OF GRACE
Stories
MEET FELICITY NCUBE
Felicity is a bright young student with big dreams of inspiring others through her story of incredible resilience and optimism.
Felicity was born in South Africa without arms and legs. In her Zimbabwean parents’ culture, disability was interpreted as a bad omen or a curse, often leading parents to harm or abandon their disabled children. Sadly, Felicity’s parents made the decision to leave her as a tiny infant at Tshwane Haven Place of Safety, a children’s home in South Africa with the capacity to care for abandoned, abused, or medically challenged orphans. While this turn in Felicity’s life seems discouraging, it has not hindered her determination to succeed.
Prosthetist Dr. Henk Craig put Felicity in touch with Stepping Into Grace to provide help for Felicity. In partnership with Orthocross Amputee Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 2019, they were able to send Felicity prosthetic components for her arms with hooks to facilitate grabbing and holding objects. With practice, she has learned to manipulate the “hands” easily, and she can now eat, write, and accomplish anything she sets out to do. She has defied societal expectations and is living her life to the fullest.
Felicity’s message to her benefactors brims with gratitude and strength: “Thank you so much to Orthocross Amputee Foundation for helping me to prove to everyone that I am capable of doing everything myself, and for giving me these arms so that I can write and pick up things. I love you so much!”
At just fourteen years old, Felicity is a strong scholar, and her view of herself does not include her disability. She is eager to share her story of hope and perseverance with the world, and she dreams of becoming a writer and public motivational speaker to spread her positive message. Through support from mentors like Lynette Beer, Felicity is already moving towards her goals. She recently delivered a powerful public speech– the first major step on her path to professional success!
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MEET RIËTTE SMIT
When Riëtte Smit lost her leg, she felt “uncertainty of how [she] would live a normal life.” Now, however, the average onlooker might say Riëtte’s life is much better than normal.
At the age of twenty-one, Riëtte was in a car accident with her friend. The accident badly broke her leg, and she spent six hard weeks in the hospital before the heartbreaking decision was made to amputate. Riëtte was unable to walk on her own for nine months, using crutches to make it through her daily routines, and she became increasingly unsure of the possibility of ever walking independently again. The loss of her leg at a young age sparked deep fears about her ability to live the full, adventurous life of her dreams. She found herself losing hope and doubting whether she would be able to enjoy the plans she had made for her future.
After nine months, Riëtte heard about Stepping Into Grace, and she reached out for help. Stepping Into Grace partnered with Penta and Frans Kleinhans to send Riëtte her very first prosthetic leg— a monumental step that reopened boundless possibilities for her future. “They gave me hope again,” Riëtte says, “Hope that everything would be okay and that I could still work toward my dreams.”
Three years have passed since Riëtte received her donation, and she has now completed her National Qualification Framework for Tourism at Level 4 and Animal Care at Level 5. She is currently tackling a home-based care course, one step further in achieving her dream of working with animals. As a testament to the rewards of her donation, she shares heartwarming photos of her time caring for primates, playing with elephants, and observing rhinos with Stepping Into Grace.
“I am deeply grateful to everyone who helped me,” Riëtte says. “Because of them, I can live my life to the fullest again, enjoy the life ahead of me, and continue learning how to embrace and enjoy life as an amputee.”
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MEET HEIN DE BEER
Hein de Beer has been living with a prosthetic leg for over thirty-five years. In 1988, he was hard at work on a farm, helping to erect a windmill, when the strap connection he was using to assemble the turbines snapped. The windmill fell, pinning Hein to the ground, and the wheel struck his left leg. He suffered deep cuts, and doctors had to perform an amputation below his knee, including a skin transplant on the residual limb. For seven months, Hein coped without a prosthesis and with no feeling on the inside of his leg.
His doctors chose his first prosthesis considering the sensitivities that resulted from Hein’s injuries. It was a conventional model, using a tight corset and steel joints on the sides to hold it in place, as well as a slip socket. A year later, once the skin that was transplanted on his knee became strong enough, his doctor chose to upgrade the prosthesis to a patellar tendon supporting (PTS) model to increase support above his knee and hopefully improve Hein’s stability. After a little while using this model, his prosthetic was upgraded once again to include a cushion liner with a knee sleeve suction socket– a far more comfortable option than its predecessors.
With each new iteration of Hein’s prosthesis, his quality of life has improved. The latest installment, a new foot, came in 2025 with the help of Stepping Into Grace and prosthetist Frans Kleinhans.
“It is amazing,” Hein said as he took some of his first steps with the new foot. “It is a great blessing [compared to] the old foot. It’s really a blessing.”
We were just as blessed to be able to assist Hein with the next phase of his life with prosthesis!
MEET SAMUEL SIMBA
When Samuel Simba isn’t teaching elementary school students in Mozambique, he spends his time sewing clothing. He sells the clothes he makes, spreading joy through his creative gifts and his love of helping others, whether they are children at the school or friends in his community. However, Samuel has arrived at this joy after years of struggling in ways most of us can’t imagine.
In 2004, Samuel was involved in a car accident as a pedestrian. The accident had serious consequences: Samuel lost his left leg as a result of his injuries. He was only ten years old at the time. He spent the next three years without a prosthesis, readjusting to his daily life through new obstacles and significant pain. When prosthetist Frans Kleinhans introduced Samuel’s friend to Stepping Into Grace, it started a process that would change Samuel’s quality of life for the better.
Samuel traveled to South Africa to meet Dr. Kleinhans, who fitted him for a new limb. Thanks to the kindness of his friend, Stepping Into Grace could provide Samuel with a new silicone liner for his prosthesis.
“The donation from Penta changed my life significantly,” Samuel tells Stepping Into Grace. Penta partners with us to make donations like these possible. “I no longer feel pain because [the new liner] is a comfortable, high-quality material.”
In addition to the new liner, his friend also arranged for Samuel to receive a sewing machine with his Stepping Into Grace Payment, feeding his creative passion as well as enabling him to move through his daily life with new ease.
When asked how his experience with Stepping Into Grace has impacted him, Samuel remarked, “This donation changed the way I see life, because I received help from people I had never met, and because I now feel well and free from the pain I used to have.” The generosity he experienced won’t end with him, either. Samuel is determined to pay the kindness forward. “I developed empathy and a desire to help others,” he said. We can’t wait to witness the next steps in Samuel’s journey!
MEET JEANIQUE VOLSCHENK
Jeanique Volschenk is a mother, but her leg had been holding her back from living a full life with her children for a long time.
Jeanique was born with amniotic band syndrome, a rare condition in which fibrous strands of the amniotic sac tangle around a developing baby and cause damage due to restricted blood flow. When Jeanique was born, the consequences of amniotic band syndrome forced doctors to remove her left leg at birth, meaning Jeanique has lived her whole life as an amputee.
While Jeanique has used prosthetic limbs before, her old prosthesis was less than ideal. The length of her former prosthetic leg did not quite match her right leg, making it more difficult to walk comfortably. As a result, Jeanique’s movement was limited, and she did not often feel up to participating in everyday activities with her children. Walking was limited to short distances, and she began to feel it was negatively impacting her health.
The new leg Stepping Into Grace provided for Jeanique and fitted by prosthetist Frans Kleinhans involves silicone components for comfort, and of course, it’s the proper length!
In the time since receiving her donation, Jeanique’s quality of life has seen a lot of improvement. She feels more comfortable investing her time in the things that matter dearly to her. “I can do more things with my children,” she reports. Furthermore, she’s received a boost of confidence through a limb that suits her lifestyle. “The leg is much nicer, and I can wear shorter clothes more,” she says. “I can now walk long distances and have already lost 11.2kg [25 lbs].” In general, Jeanique says, “I feel a lot better.”
Stepping Into Grace is honored to walk with Jeanique into a more active, fulfilling phase of life with her precious children! Her joy and motivation confirm that our donations make an impact not only on our recipients, but on the friends and family who reap the benefits of a happier, healthier loved one.
MEET CAREL DU PLESSIS
Carel’s journey with prosthesis has been long and hard-fought. About five years ago, he was in a serious head-first motorcycle collision with a drunk driver that caused complicated damage to his leg. There were multiple malunions in his femur, as well as a badly broken hip, which made healing from his injuries especially challenging. For three years, he endured a grueling series of surgeries as doctors fought to save his leg, but his body rejected the external fixators again and again. Eventually, after continuous complications and setbacks in his path to healing, he and his doctors made the difficult decision to amputate his leg.
For nearly a year, Carel coped without his leg. While he previously enjoyed a very active lifestyle as a runner, the loss hindered his ability to participate in social activities or play with his young son, which took a toll on his optimism. Finally, Dr. Henk Craig, a prosthetist, reached out to Stepping Into Grace, Penta, and Orthocross in search of help for him. Together, they were able to donate a prosthetic leg to be fitted for Carel, and soon after, he was back to participating in his favorite activities.
Dr. Craig is very pleased with Carel’s progress after receiving the prosthesis. The complexity of his injuries raised some concerns about his alignment, but it doesn’t seem to cause Carel any problems. “He walks brilliantly,” Dr. Craig raves.
Henk literally got me ‘back on my feet,’” Carel says. “Today I can run again, play sports, and play and live fully with my son— who is now turning 9.” It means the world to Carel to be able to stay active as both an athlete and a father.
“Through Penta, Stepping Into Grace, and Orthocross, I have not only regained my social freedom, but also the ability to be economically active again and live my life to the fullest,” Carel says. “It has opened up a world for me that I didn’t even know was possible.”
Carel’s next hope is to get a prosthetic blade that will help him run even faster towards his goals. “That will come with time,” Dr. Craig assures us. Carel’s determination proves that the loss of a limb doesn’t have to slow a person down; in fact, it just might make him stronger than before!
MEET TOM ENGLEBERT
For Tom Englebert, faith has been the bedrock of his amputation journey. On October 8, 2023, Tom was in a car accident that caused considerable damage to his leg. In the wake of his accident, Tom underwent nineteen surgical procedures in what he describes as an “exhaustive effort to rescue” his leg, with doctors attempting a variety of external fixators for stability to facilitate Tom’s healing. Unfortunately, amputation below the knee was inevitable. He endured another two procedures to prepare his residual limb for prosthesis, which he received in mid-August of the following year.
In the long period between his injury and his eventual healing, Tom became completely dependent on the help of others to function day-to-day. When he left the house, he was pushed in a wheelchair and needed further help navigating grocery shopping, cooking, and doctors’ appointments. However, he found that his home was not wheelchair-accessible, and so he was also forced to rely on others to bathe (which he could only accomplish with a dish of water and soap), use the bathroom, and move through other mundane steps of his daily routine. His injury and amputation meant that he could not make it to work for two and a half years, which had a severe impact on his social and financial life. Tom worried that his life would never be the same, but he trusted in God’s love and providence to carry him into a hopeful future.
Tom’s prosthetist, Frans Kleinhans, played a massive part in Tom’s success. His help in finding a surgeon for the final operation to revise Tom’s residual limb made it possible for Tom to use his new prosthetic leg. “Penta and Stepping Into Grace’s donation was absolutely with the Grace of our Lord,” Tom says. With the help of the prosthesis, he has returned to living his daily life independently and confidently, from preparing food to caring for his body. He is especially excited to water the flowers in his garden and feed the visiting birds, and he hopes and prays that he’ll be able to return to work in the very near future.
The most crucial piece of Tom’s story is the way his experience has deepened his faith. “God working in mysterious ways was, before Penta and Stepping Into Grace, something that I had heard a lot about, but I experienced it firsthand and started living much closer to God. I was always a Christian, but my thinking was renewed on a new level, which brought an incredible amount of calm and peace to me as a person,” he says. “I feel like I got a second chance in my life after the horrific accident, which I grabbed with both my hands.”
Tom’s resilience and faith inspire us to continue working to change amputees’ lives, one step at a time!
MEET MORNE
BELOW KNEE SUCCESS STORIES
Morne was dealt unfavorable circumstances in life and experienced the unfair part of life...... After receiving a Below Knee amputation in December last year, he was lost and very uncertain of the road ahead. Trying to get information and help somewhere, Morne and his Mother ended up at my practice, and with the help of Stepping into Grace, we could help him with a Foot and Liner, and today, a very emotional Morne was walking within 10 minutes after fitting him with his prosthetic leg. It really was a beautiful moment and deeply appreciated by Morne and Mom.... Morne, I am so deeply happy for you!!! Good luck for every step you take in life!
