We’ve just spent the day at a cancer fundraising event at the SAB World of Beer. The event today was the first of its kind hosted by the World of Beer, one of Flow’s clients.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and focuses on raising awareness about the disease.
Three cancer survivors spoke about their experiences.
Johanna Francis told of how much she was in denial when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, and how she feared that her husband would leave her and how her children were forced to grow up overnight. Her message for the day was: “Cancer is not contagious.”
Because of the intensity of the cancer treatment, she was not a good candidate for breast reconstruction.
“I wear a prosthesis – I am the only one in this room who has a mobile breast,” she joked.
“It doesn’t make me less of a wife, less of a mother, less of an aunty or less of a sister,” Francis added.
“More and more men from as young as 13 are dying from testicular cancer," said Iain Batten, who survived the disease.
He told how he was fired by his boss while in hospital for testicular cancer.
“The minute you mention cancer, it’s like people say, ‘Stay away from me.’ People treat you differently because they don’t understand.”
Through his battle with the disease, Iain went from weighing 95kg to just 40kg. At one stage he was receiving 15 chemotherapy treatments a month. He battled stigma and severe physical reactions to the treatment.
At one point, he said, “I gave up.”
He survived and was there to testify that “cancer cannot take away your joy; cancer cannot take away your hope”. Batten believes that he survived so he can create awareness around the disease.
The event's third speaker, Keleady Tloubatla, survived a horrific accident that killed her fiancé, and left her in a coma for a month while she was pregnant. Her baby was removed while she was in hospital and only lived for two weeks.
She was diagnosed with liver cancer, which doctors believe was caused by lacerations to her liver sustained during the accident.
“If I didn’t survive cancer I would not be here today doing this ... Cancer can be managed. Early detection is the best medicine for us. And we can have a cancer-free world in the future,” she added.
In closing, World of Beer general manager Tony Rubin said: “Today has taught me a lot. We spoke about being a victor. We spoke about support [for cancer survivors].”
More than R11 000 was raised for cancer awareness through donations and an auction at the event.
