Empowering Leaders, Enhancing Impact!

The Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) reminds citizens to mark the calendar for the 16th annual CANSA Relay For Life, Gqeberha. Taking place on Saturday, 16 March from 6:00pm to 6:00am on Sunday, 17 March 2024, at the Fairview Sports Centre in Willow Road, Gqeberha, it aims to bring together the community in a display of unity and hope in the fight against cancer.

It’s with great sadness to announce the passing away of Sister Grace Lyn England on 12 January 2024.  She was involved with CANSA for over 30 years as a nurse, leader volunteer and Global Hero of Hope, as part of CANSA Relay For Life.  She was also a primary caregiver to her husband and father, who both lost their lives due to cancer.

CANSA Relay For Life gives us a chance to witness the journey that all of the cancer survivors and their caregivers are on and allows us the honour of walking beside many of them and meeting new survivors each year.
The camaraderie is phenomenal at CANSA Relay For Life!

My wife Anthea was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 and underwent a left breast mastectomy.
She received treatment in Cape Town, approximately 150km from our home in Ceres. At the time we had two children at university and two more at school.
Although, we were very fortunate to have a medical aid, we still had financial constraints with all the travelling costs and so forth.

After I was diagnosed, I didn’t really know what to do or expect as I didn’t know where to find info or who to turn to for help. A friend told me about CANSA Relay For Life and in the beginning I was very sceptical about having anything to do with it as my Cancer wasn’t something I wanted to talk about. I felt it was a personal thing and no one would understand.
I agreed to go to a survivor’s function to keep my friend happy and that was a turning point for me. Here I realized how many people was in the same boat as me and that there was an organisation that could help me with what I wanted to know. After my second Relay I decided I wanted to be a part in doing more to help educate and to help raising funds for CANSA.

Cancer touched my life personally in 2015, when my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It was a dark time that tested my faith, but I remained hopeful and I quickly became his strength.
God prepared me for 25 years for this moment, to not only be a wife and mother but to be a caregiver as well. My amazing husband unfortunately passed away in March 2019. I have given part of myself to CANSA and those affected by this dreaded disease.
I have been a volunteer at numerous Cuppa For CANSA events and registered two teams in the CANSA Relay For Life Garden Route event, while I also host annual fundraisers for CANSA.

The community in and around East London has totally taken ownership of “their”Relay, with a total mix of cultures across the board, and the comaradie and companionship experienced at the Relay is something to see.