It was December 18, 1994. A warm night in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Alison Botha, just 27 at the time, was pulling up to her apartment after a night out with friends. She didn’t know it yet, but within minutes, her life would become the subject of every "medical miracle" headline in the world.
She was abducted at knife-point from her own car. Two men—Frans du Toit and Theuns Kruger—forced their way in. They drove her to a remote, dark patch of coastal bush near Noordhoek. What followed wasn't just a crime; it was an attempt at total erasure. They raped her. They strangled her until she lost consciousness. Then, they tried to make sure she never woke up.
They stabbed her in the abdomen 37 times. But they didn't stop there. They slit her throat from ear to ear, a total of 16 or 17 times, depending on which medical report you read. The damage was so severe that her head was literally held on by little more than her spine and a few strips of muscle. They left her in the dirt to die.
Honestly, she should have died. Any doctor will tell you that. But she didn't.
How did Alison Botha survive the impossible?
Most people think survival is just about luck. With Alison, it was a weird, gritty mix of biological fluke and a terrifyingly strong will to live. When she finally came to in the dirt, she realized she couldn't see. Her vision was gone. Then, she felt a strange sensation on her legs. It was her own intestines. They had spilled out of her abdomen due to the depth of the stab wounds.
She didn't panic. Not in the way you'd expect.
She basically tucked her intestines back into her body using her shirt as a makeshift sling. Because her neck was severed so deeply, her head kept flopping backward. To fix this, she used one hand to physically hold her head upright so she could breathe and see.
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She saw a light in the distance. It was the road. She started to crawl.
Think about that for a second. Holding your own head on with one hand, holding your guts in with the other, and dragging yourself through the sand. It took her hours. She eventually reached the asphalt and collapsed. A young veterinary student named Tiaan Eilerd saw her. He initially thought it was a bundle of clothes or a dead animal. When he realized it was a person, he stopped.
The medical "flukes" that kept her alive
There’s a lot of talk about her "will to live," which is true, but biologically, how did she not bleed out in minutes?
Doctors who treated her at the hospital later noted a few "lucky" factors:
- The cold and shock: Her body went into a state of extreme shock that actually constricted some of her blood vessels, slowing the catastrophic blood loss just enough.
- The angle of the blade: Despite the 17 slashes to her neck, the attackers somehow missed her carotid arteries and jugular veins by mere millimeters. If those had been severed, she would have been dead in seconds.
- The "Sling" technique: By holding her shirt tight against her stomach, she prevented further contamination of her internal organs and kept them somewhat in place, preventing total organ failure from exposure.
When she arrived at the hospital, the staff were reportedly horrified. One nurse mentioned later that they couldn't believe a person with those injuries was still conscious and trying to communicate.
What happened to her attackers?
Frans du Toit and Theuns Kruger weren't just random thugs. During their trial, it came out that they had planned a "satanic" killing to see what it felt like to take a life. The judge called them "inherently evil." They were sentenced to life in prison with the recommendation that they never be released.
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However, the South African parole system is... complicated.
For years, there was a massive legal battle regarding their release. In July 2023, the news broke that both men had been granted parole and released after serving 28 years. People were furious. Alison herself wasn't even properly notified before it happened.
But here’s the 2026 update: In early 2025, after intense public pressure and a review of the parole process, the Minister of Correctional Services, Pieter Groenewald, actually revoked their parole. They were re-incarcerated in February 2025. As of right now, they are back behind bars. It’s a rare instance of the system actually walking back a decision because the risk to the community—and to Alison—was deemed too high.
The second fight for her life
You'd think after surviving 1994, the universe would give the woman a break. But in late 2024, Alison faced a new nightmare. She suffered a massive brain aneurysm.
She spent a significant amount of time in the ICU, and the South African public rallied again. A trust fund was set up (the Alison Botha Trust) because the medical costs for her rehabilitation were astronomical. It’s kinda heartbreaking that a woman who spent decades inspiring others with her "ABC" (Attitude, Belief, Choice) philosophy had to fight all over again just to speak and move.
The latest reports from late 2025 and early 2026 suggest she is recovering, but it’s a slow, grueling process. She’s had to relearn things that she already fought to keep thirty years ago.
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Actionable insights from Alison's journey
We aren't all going to face a literal monster in the dark, but Alison’s story has some pretty visceral lessons for anyone dealing with trauma or "impossible" odds.
1. The ABC Principle works. Alison always preached Attitude, Belief, and Choice. She says you can't control what happens to you, but you can control your response. When she was lying in that field, she chose to believe she could reach the road. That choice shifted her from a victim to a participant in her own survival.
2. Physical "Grounding" in Crisis. In moments of extreme trauma, Alison focused on the immediate physical task. Hold the head. Move the leg. Watch the light. If you’re overwhelmed by a massive problem, break it down into the most basic physical requirement for the next five minutes.
3. Boundaries aren't just for people. She refused to let the attackers "own" her story. She spoke out early, wrote her book I Have Life, and turned her trauma into a career. By reclaiming the narrative, she took away the power the perpetrators tried to exert.
If you want to support her recovery or learn more about her current status, looking into the Alison Botha Trust is the best way to get verified updates. Her story isn't just a "true crime" tidbit; it's a manual on how to keep breathing when the world tries to cut your breath short.