Dying boy kisses dad goodbye on plane

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2005494,00.html

28/09/2006 23:06 - (SA)
Liesl Pretorius, Beeld
Johannesburg - A 13-year-old cancer patient from Zastron in the Free State, who died on an SAA flight from Washington to Johannesburg, kissed his dad five times before dying.
Johnathan Mather, 13, who underwent treatment in a Mexico clinic earlier this month, gave his father a hug and five kisses on the flight via Dakar in Senegal before losing consciousness.
The kisses were for his father, Ian, his mother, Santa, his two brothers, Jacques,17, and Allan, 15, and sister Christine, 10.
A Bloemfontein naturopath, Ivan Egersdorfer, who accompanied Johnathan to the US, said the first five hours of the flight went without a hitch.
Went into a coma
After that, though, Johnathan started having hallucinations.
"Trust me," he told his father before hugging and kissing him. He went into a coma about 03:40.
His mother Santa, who remained in Zastron, told friends about 05:30 her son had died.
The 18-hour flight landed in Johannesburg just after 12:00.
Johnathan went overseas in mid-September for treatment at the Sanoviv Medical Institute near Tijuana in Mexico.
He was diagnosed with a Ewing sarcoma in 2004. It's a rare type of bone cancer and had affected his spine.
Johnathan received, among other things, hydrotherapy at the centre, which offers a combination of Western and holistic treatments.
'The treatment eased his pain'
Egersdorfer said: "He looked better after the treatment, but his organ functions still were deteriorating."
Santa said the family was not sorry that Johnathan had gone overseas for treatment.
"The treatment eased his pain, even though it couldn't heal him.
"I find solace in the knowledge he's been released from pain and is in much better hands."