Mandy Scanlen is an Awesome South African

Living here in Westlake, Cape Town, is a friend of mine whose story I need to share as an inspiration to everyone and encouragement to her to keep on fighting.

Mandy Scanlen is a fighter. Her attitude 10 years ago when I first met was one of strength. Mandy is a no nonsense woman and is not scared to open her mouth. Some people might have found her to be daunting – I did not. She impressed me with her confidence.

Since then she has been struck with Psoriatic Arthritis and Sympathetic Reflex Dystrophy. Yes that is a mouthful and I had to type it slowly to make sure the spelling was correct.

Bottom line, Mandy is no longer able to do what she used to do. She has had Pneumonia 4 times this year already yet when I spoke to her on the phone, even though her voice was struggling to come across the line – her ability to smile and sense of strength is still very prevalent.

We come across people daily that have given up after facing 5% of the challenges that Mandy faces daily, yet she is still strong.

Mandy, I want to call you an Awesome South African. You are the symbol of strength and I take inspiration from you and hope everybody else who reads this will too.

PhatRat over and out (but feeling very inspired to take on the world now)