How rugby legend Broadhurst Cona beat Covid-19

Still fond of rugby. Broadhurst Cona, rugby legend from Langa, tested positive for COVID-19 and survived. (Photo: Nasief Manie/Spotlight)

By Siyabonga Kamnqa for Spotlight

28 Jul 2020

In his illustrious rugby career, Broadhurst (Broadness) Cona learned to fight hard on the field and never give up until the final whistle. It is this spirit that the legend from Langa brought to another fight – surviving Covid-19 as a 73-year-old.

Former rugby player Broadhurst Cona laughs heartily when we ask about the confusion around his name – he is often referred to as Broadness.

“You see. That’s an apartheid fault. I was named Broadhurst by my father. But when it came to applying for my ‘dompas’, someone decided to misspell my name or deliberately refer to me as ‘Broadness’,” he says with a chuckle.

Rugby legend Broadhurst Cona tested positive for Covid-19 three months ago.(Photo: Nasief Manie / Spotlight)

Cona was a prop in the black SA rugby squad, SAARB, in the 1970s and played against the Italian national team abroad and against France in South Africa.

Cona tested positive for Covid-19 three months ago.

Sitting on the sofa in his daughter Kholiswa’s three-bedroom house in Langa outside Cape Town, Cona tells Spotlight about his struggle with the virus and his years of playing rugby.

Broadhurst Cona speaks fondly of his days as a rugby player in the 1970s and 1980s. (Photo: Nasief Manie / Spotlight)

Broadness Cona (second row, centre )brought the same fighting spirit of his rugby days to his hospital bed as a Covid-19 patient and survived the disease. (Photo: Nasief Manie / Spotlight)

Monochrome photographs of the black SA rugby team take pride of place on the shelves, while the green and gold Springbok blazer hangs on the wall.

As a black rugby player, Cona started with the Flying Eagles rugby club in Nyanga. He played in the SAARB national team and was later on the Western Province Rugby Board.

Still fond of rugby. Broadhurst Cona, rugby legend from Langa, tested positive for Covid-19 and survived. (Photo: Nasief Manie/Spotlight)

So proud was former president Nelson Mandela of the Springboks’ win at the Rugby World Cup in 1995, that he later invited black and coloured rugby legends to a gala dinner at Nasrec in Johannesburg where they were honoured with Springbok blazers.

The blazer is one of Cona’s prized possessions.

“That’s me right there, the big guy being flanked by Eric Majala and Peter Mkhatha. Those were sensational rugby players,” Cona says, pointing at one of the portraits.

“We played rugby not for fame and fortune, but we had a great passion for it. Back then, there were no magnificent facilities or state of the art equipment to train with. We were also up against the harsh apartheid laws that divided us.

“As blacks, we played against each other. We had our own league that was different from the coloured leagues and white leagues. But we enjoyed the sport,” he recalls.

Cona says he showed signs of brilliance from the moment he was recruited by the Flying Eagles rugby team in Nyanga in the 1970s.

Having been born and raised in Simon’s Town, his family was forcefully moved to Gugulethu township in 1965 under the Group Areas Act. It was there that he developed his love for rugby.

“In Simon’s Town we played soccer only. But in Gugulethu and Nyanga, both rugby and soccer were dominant. I ended up playing both sports until people told me how good I was in rugby,” he says.

Some of the greatest moments of his rugby career that will forever be etched in his mind include touring Italy with the SAARB squad in 1974, and playing against the French national team during their tour to South Africa the following year.

Cona says it makes him proud to see the transformation that has happened in rugby since then.

“We now have the first-ever black captain who lifted the World Cup last year. It is a great achievement, even though it is not yet uhuru. I can talk until the workers return home,” he says with a giggle.

Lucky to be alive

As for his Covid-19 experience, Cona says he counts himself lucky to be alive, as some of his peers who tested positive for the disease were less fortunate.

“I could have been added to the virus’s casualties and be six feet under by now,” he says. “But I told myself that it was not yet time for me to meet my Creator. As I lay in that hospital bed, I told myself that I would fight this virus tooth and nail, just like I fought opposing defenders on the rugby field.”

Cona says initially there were “just no symptoms whatsoever” and the virus caught him “off-guard”.

Having been diagnosed with hypertension and gout in 2007, he recently found that he had lost his appetite, so he visited a local doctor in Gugulethu for a check-up.

“After running some checks, the doctor gave me two injections and some medication. Indeed, within a few hours, the appetite was back and I could eat normally again,” he says.

But, he says, a concerned friend insisted that he goes for a Covid-19 test at a local clinic just to be sure. Cona had developed a cough and a fever, but thought it was something that would pass.

“At the time I thought nothing of it (the fever). In fact, I wasn’t scared to go for the test at all. I even remember jokingly telling him how he could ask a man (like me), who is as fit as a fiddle, to go for a Covid-19 test.

“But deep down I knew that this virus attacks the elderly badly, especially those of us with underlying illnesses. I couldn’t wait to get the tests done and for the results to come back negative,” he recalls.

After a few tests, nurses at the local day hospital told Cona that he had a chest infection and he was put on a drip immediately.

“I remember all those people standing around me in all their PPE. It started being a bit scary, especially when that swab was inserted into my nostril. It was very uncomfortable,” he says.

Nurses then told him he would be transferred to the nearby Heideveld day hospital for further tests. There, Cona heard he had tested positive for Covid-19.

He says he felt his world come crashing down as the doctor broke the news to him.

Just keep going

Cona was admitted to Groote Schuur hospital and underwent oxygen treatment for five days.

“In the bed next to mine was this old man who was also in his 70s. I later realised he was also a rugby legend from Langa. We started getting on like a house on fire and I was glad to have met a peer I could talk to.

“Just like me, he had a positive energy and the will to survive. But to my shock, I woke up in the early hours one morning to an empty bed next to mine. When I enquired from the nurses, they told me that he had just succumbed to the virus and his body had been taken away.

“It started sinking in that I could be next. Every morning the mortuary personnel would come and collect a body,” he says. At that point, he made the conscious decision that he wasn’t going to die.

He considers those three weeks at the hospital as the worst time of his life.

“I was in a lot of pain. From the toes right up, my entire body was numb. I survived on Panado every day to ease the pain. I also became tired from having to sleep all day and during the night. That was when I decided to start doing some exercises around the ward.

“I could see that lying in that bed all day and feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to heal me. I needed to stay positive, and I was reminded of my coach’s words during our walking sessions that ‘when you feel tired, don’t stop, just keep going’,” he says.

Cona spent time in four different wards during his hospital stay.

“Every time you recover a bit you get moved to a different ward, until the doctors feel you are now ready to be discharged. I remember how excited I was the day doctors told me that I had made a remarkable recovery and that I would be discharged the following day. It was as if I was dreaming,” he says.

But, to his shock, he was told that he wouldn’t be going straight home, but to the Lagoon Beach Hotel where he would be quarantined for 11 days.

Despite his fears, Cona says life at the hotel was “much better”.

“There were no groans and moans from patients in other beds and no smell of hospital medication. Instead, I was put in my own room with a TV, shower and a nice warm bed. I could go out to the balcony and look at the breathtaking views of the sea.

“The only downside was the fact that I had no visitors, and even the meals were just dropped at the door. On the last day, a doctor came and checked my temperature and declared me fit to return home. I was overjoyed,” he says.

Death in the family

While his own battle with Covid-19 is over, Cona says he lies awake at night after losing his only son, Morgan, to the virus.

Morgan was admitted to a hospital in the Eastern Cape last month, and Cona recalls how he encouraged his son to be strong.

“I remember telling him, ‘you will beat it. If I could defeat it, so can you’. But it wasn’t to be. It’s still difficult for me to come to terms with his death. But I guess we have to accept God’s will,” says Cona.

He says he defied doctor’s orders not to travel and took a bus to Queenstown to attend his son’s funeral. DM/MC

Cona is among 265,077 recoveries from Covid-19 recorded in the country by Sunday 26 July.

This article was produced by Spotlight – health journalism in the public interest. Sign up for our newsletter.

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