Patient jumps from 9th floor at Charlotte Maxeke

Between 7am and 7.30am yesterday, a woman leapt from the ninth floor of Johannesburg's Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital.

The pain and suffering had become too much for Maxine Brayton, 53, who jumped to her death through a toilet window.

A carefully worded statement released by the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development five hours later reveals little about Brayton's circumstances, other than saying that she had undergone surgery and was in excruciating pain.

"What happened is a tragedy and our sympathies are with the family at this traumatic and difficult moment," health MEC Ntombi Mekgwe said.

Brayton had experienced not only physical but emotional torture, and felt she was "trapped in a hopeless body".

A dance teacher and former daycare worker from Randburg, Johannesburg, she had contacted The Times on June 21, desperately for help.

Freely sharing her medical history, Brayton said she suffered from bipolar disorder and had been addicted to drugs and alcohol .

Brayton had undergone a hysterectomy on May 30 and "something went wrong" during the operation.

"I can't take the pain," she whispered.

She made her distress call to The Times as, with a gaping hole where the surgeon had cut her abdomen, she battled to receive medical attention or admission to Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital.

"They keep sending me home . liquid came out of my stomach and they put a colostomy bag over me," she said.

"They told me it [the hole] will eventually close in time, but the rawness of the acid in my stomach is spilling. It is absolutely horrendous. I'm too scared to stand up," she said, slumped in a wheelchair.

Brayton was admitted to the hospital a few hours later, but during a follow-up telephone call, she said the pain had not subsided and that she felt "alone and rejected".

Yesterday, she became one of 22 or so people who commit suicide every day in South Africa.

Her father, Raymond, 81, said: "We never expected this. It's still a big shock to all of us. She had been going through so much pain, but we were hoping that she would get better and we would take her on a holiday.

"We never thought that this would happen."

Her sister, Sharon Brayton, said: "She had gone through a lot and we are devastated.''

A friend and neighbour, Rosalind Beekes - who accompanied Brayton to hospital in June - told a sad tale yesterday of a woman in pain and who suffered anxiety attacks and severe bouts of depression.

Brayton, she said, had on several occasions threatened to take her life and had asked others to help her.

"She went through a rollercoaster of emotions. At one time she even attacked me, but it was a result of her bipolar condition.

"She was a difficult person. But for her to have died like this is tragic," Beekes said.

In June, Brayton said: "I can't take the pain, I just wish I could sleep and never wake up."

Health spokesman Simon Zwane said initial investigations showed that Brayton had been admitted to the hospital's surgical gastroenterology section on Friday for an "enterocutaneous fistula", an opening of the bowel to the skin.

Hospital staff said Brayton was about to be discharged and she had been uncertain where she would go.

"She was pacing up and down in the corridor and was smoking through the window at one stage," said a hospital employee. "The next minute she ran to the toilet and jumped through the window.

"We are all so shocked," said the employee, looking down at Brayton's body covered with a blue hospital blanket, while police worked in the cordoned-off area.

Brayton is said to have received psychiatric treatment while in hospital, but Zwane said there was nothing that had suggested she was suicidal.

"There was no indication that she would do this," he said.

The South African Depression and Anxiety Group's Cassey Chambers described Brayton's circumstances as "very tragic", but said that often people in her situation felt hopeless and that the "only way to end her problems was to take her life".

Chambers said an average of 220 people tried to commit suicide every day in South Africa, and 75% of them told someone of their intentions or displayed warning signs.

The world observes Suicide Prevention Day on September 10.

Police have opened an inquest docket on Brayton.