I can only think that my diagnosis laid upon my heart the realisation that God wanted me to give back to my community the opportunity to change even just one life. I never imagined that there would be a national footprint with Relay For Life, but I just knew that involvement would be what is right, and God directed. Thus, my involvement was born out of a yearning to be of service and CANSA Relay For Life has been offering me that platform since 2011…

CANSA Relay For Life Global Hero of Hope, Daniel de Wit talks about #CloseTheCareGap for World Cancer Day. https://cansa.org.za/cansa-closing-the-gap-in-cancer-care/

I am Helen Southey- I would like to close the gap so that every patient diagnosed with cancer receive the proper treatment, care and emotional support needed and that their families also receive the necessary support- May we all help to close the gap. https://cansa.org.za/cansa-closing-the-gap-in-cancer-care/

Cancer survivor and CANSA Relay For Life Global Hero of Hope on #CloseTheCareGap for World Cancer Day https://cansa.org.za/cansa-closing-the-gap-in-cancer-care/  

CANSA Relay For Life was honoured to participate in the Global Relay For Life Virtual Festival.
Watch the amazing videos and activities at the Global Relay For Life Virtual Festival.

Alna Kraak (Western Cape) My caregiver journey started in 1987 as a registered nurse at Groote Schuur Hospital’s Oncology Department. I was also affected as I lost my father-in-law and two uncles to cancer. I started as a CANSA volunteer in March 2009, receiving patient care and Phakamisa volunteer training. I am actively involved and […]

The sessions show the value of Global Heroes of Hope to our programmes and organisations…

For me personally CANSA Relay For Life is a celebration of my life and makes me thankful for my health. As part of the Survivorship committee, I love to make survivors feel special even though they may do not feel well or ‘look good’. It has taught me to be positive, believe and fight back and I want to share this with the other survivors. It is also a time to thank our caregivers who sometimes are taken for granted and do not realise how “special” they are. Caregivers also suffer and battle in the fight against cancer with their loved ones.

If it had not been for the active role that I played in CANSA, it would have been much more difficult to accept and understand what my husband was going through. The staff partner at the CANSA Pietermaritzburg Care Centre had given so much support to me during my husband’s ordeal. She was the caregiver to the caregiver.

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!

This diagnosis really made me think that I was going to die, but once I met my oncologist and his staff, I realized that this is the beginning of the rest of my life – and what an amazing story it turned out to be.
In the chemo room I met the true angels of the oncology centre – myself and the other cancer survivors were all in the same boat – and we became family during our individual journeys.

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.