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Johannesburg - Gillian Venter, who was involved in a horror crash with her son Jordan on Tuesday, underwent surgery on Thursday afternoon to stop the internal bleeding of her liver, Netwerk24 reported.
Heirich Kieser, Gillian's boyfriend of the past seven years, and his two teenage sons died on impact when a truck apparently swerved to avoid an accident with another car, and crashed head-on into their SUV.
Also read: Tragic crash leaves one mother in ICU and another without two children
According to Gillian's ex-husband, Pieter Venter, both she and Jordan have a long way to go [to recovery].
"Gillian came out of theatre at about 14:00 and the operation fortunately was a success – but a lot of treatment lies ahead because she was badly injured," said Venter.
"Things can only get better, so I am holding thumbs and hoping for the best.
"The doctors treated Gillian’s internal bleeding on Thursday and at the same time cleaned her hand, which was full of tar and glass.
"Her shoulder, as well as all her ribs and her ankle are broken, so she probably will have to undergo several more operations."
According to Venter, 15-year-old Jordan is “much better” despite a broken pelvis. He will probably have to receive treatment until at least the end of the year.
"He [Jordan] is still on a lot of pain killers, but earlier on Thursday told me that Hein was dead. I suspect that it has been very traumatic for him and I will arrange some form of counselling for him when he is better," Venter said.
Jordan is a Grade 9 pupil at Paul Roos Gymnasium and according to Venter, the support they are getting from other parents and staff is "amazing" and it is helping him though this difficult time.
Kieser's family are planning a memorial service for next week Thursday for Heinrich, Christian, 15, and 12-year-old Aldin in the auditorium of Pretoria Boys High School, where Christian was a pupil.
"We are all in shock, but are trying to get our lives together again and face things head-on," said Herman Pienaar on Thursday. He is the brother of Heinrich's estranged wife Itha.
"It was a tremendous shock for the whole family and sometimes one struggles to understand why something like this had to happen.
"I believe we will only realise exactly what happened once it has all sunk in.
"We are trying to deal with the shock and will probably only try to make sense of it later on. Meanwhile, we are relying on prayer to carry us through..."
