StemCell Therapy

It is a widely known fact that cancer is one of the major diseases causing death throughout both the developed and developing world, including South Africa.

Approximately 115 000 South Africans are diagnosed with cancer each year, and with a 6/10 survival rate it is easy to understand how news of such a diagnosis can fuel fear and anxiety for individuals and their families.

Against this background, one can easily understand why the need for hope from various sources becomes the lifeline for families dealing with cancer.When one thinks of the words hope, determination and inspiration, Richard Wright, when you meet him, embodies the meaning of these three words.

Having survived brain cancer three times, Richard has first-hand experience of how important holding on to hope fuelled his ability to stay emotionally strong when the disease weakened his body.

I didnt think Id see the age of 50, and am acutely aware of the gift ones age represents, said Richard.

As a result of his journey, Richard became acquainted with The Sunflower Fund and has become an inspiration to the staff as well as supporters of the cause at events in the past.

As part of my 50th birthday celebration, I am encouraging the public to take part in my #LoveYourAgeChallenge, in hopes of raising funds for The Sunflower Fund to assist patients who suffer from life-threatening blood disorders, continued Richard.

Join Richard in celebrating his age by celebrating your age. The challenge encourages individuals to create an activity of their choice, whether it is a 50-minute hike, baking 50 cakes or 50 minutes of meditation, making it relative to your age. Post your event selfie or video using the hashtag #LoveYourAgeChallenge and you could win great prizes.

Richard encouraged participants to spread the love by donating any amount to The Sunflower Fund to give hope. Any amount, no matter how big or small to reflect your age R5, R50 or R50 000.

The Sunflower Fund is a stem cell donor recruitment centre and registry that fights blood diseases by helping patients in need of a transplant find their life-saving matching donor. When a patient needs a transplant, the donor needs to be a DNA or genetic match, which is not as simple as matching a blood type. Patients have a 25 per cent chance of this match existing within the family. The remaining 75 per cent chance is based on finding a match from a database of strangers who have signed up to save a life should they match a patient.

An added factor is that the likelihood of this match most often exists within the same ethnic and cultural mix as the patient. As such, The Sunflower Fund is committed to building an ethnically diverse registry of donors, to give patients the best hope of a cure.

Our ambassador of hope programme is one of the key ways we work with people from various walks of life to help us raise awareness about the urgent need for blood stem cell donors, said Alana James, CEO of The Sunflower Fund. This awareness is vital to increasing the number of registered donors and we are pleased to have Richard on board as an Ambassador of Hope.

Richard is a husband, father, motivational speaker and advocate for determination and strength. He is a storyteller, skilled at using his experiences to inspire and transform the thinking of his audiences.

I also want to encourage individuals to be the hope by becoming stem cell donors. People have the power to change their mindset from just cancer awareness to being a part of the solution. As I always say mindset matters, added Richard.

Individuals between the ages of 18 and 55 can register as donors. If you have a consistent body weight of more than 50kgs and a BMI of less than 40, you could be eligible to be a donor.

For additional information on The Sunflower Fund, or to become a donor, visit https://www.sunflowerfund.org/

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#LoveYourAgeChallenge: Join cancer Ambassador of Hope in this fund-raiser - Brakpan Herald

This entry was posted on August 11, 2020 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Death by Stem Cells. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |