Olivetti 45 — It is everything but exciting to visit yet another patient in hospital for this Astertjie.
It seems that, since last year around this time, all my family has been enjoying as an extra-curricular activity (if you will) is the back-and-forth between hospital and home. Having dinner has been pushed aside – takeaway coffees in the ward (or not) and endless hours of trying to understand what the doctors say. My bedside manner has been perfected.
I’m not typing this out to moan and groan about the sickness (or worse) that we all have to deal with in terms of our families and loved ones. This is not about how a third family member has been diagnosed with cancer, how I’ve seen my loved ones either struggling for months or years or taken swiftly by the terrible disease. I am appealing to all of Roodepoort to help out.
No, you cannot fix my loved one, and I’m not asking you to, but Cansa West Rand really can do with you fixing, well, something. Be it fulfilling an administrative duty, planning an event, organising a fundraiser or simply being a foot soldier – they desperately need you as a volunteer.
Why do I want to mobilise you and not myself? My skill is in writing, spreading the word, and I am doing precisely that. For now, being at the hospital constantly myself, that is the time that I am able to put aside.
Call the event what you will – Movember, Shavathon, Relay, the Sanlam Cancer Challenge – every event serves yearly to educate thousands on cancer while offering a shoulder to cry on, a few strands of oddly coloured hair, huge moustaches and a sense of camaraderie. Not to mention that the monies raised here will go to research on the disease we’ve all had terrible experiences with but know the least about: cancer. It is unique in everyone that it affects, and it desperately needs to be understood.
If you’re curious, contact Amanda Roestoff on 079 495 7318 or via email at aroestoff@cansa.org.za.
