The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

The Cancer Society of the Bahamas is introducing its “1000@50 iDonate” campaign to raise funds for their Caring Centre and to urge persons to be proactive in lowering their individual risk of developing cancer.

The campaign aims to encourage 1,000 donors to donate $50 monthly or make a one-time donation of $600 to the Cancer Society. Each donor will receive a commemorative pin once the $600 is paid in full. The proceeds from the campaign will support the Cancer Caring Centre’s $3 million expansion building fund.

“The overall goal is to raise $600,000 and raise awareness of the burden that cancer has become to families and our country. We are in need of funding to continue the building expansion project and wanted to make it affordable to donors to participate in the campaign,” said Melissa Major, programmes coordinator at the Cancer Society of the Bahamas.

She believes the campaign is important because the building expansion will support Family Island cancer patients that frequently fly into Nassau for cancer treatment and are in need of a place to lodge free of charge.

The building expansion will also offer hospice care for the first time for cancer patients in the Bahamas. Also a daycare program for those patients that are in Nassau and need support during the daytime. The frequency of the cancer patient travelling to Nassau will depend on their treatment cycle.

“This initiative is important to me because I am working at the Cancer Caring Centre and I often experience the struggle of patients having no place to stay during the time of their cancer treatment. Patients that are terminal are told that there is nothing that the doctors can do. The Family Island patients have to leave Nassau to return to the Family Islands during their last stages of cancer, at which time all systems in the body are shutting down and patients at this final stage often require immediate medical attention and are not able to return to Nassau to receive care as needed. This is also a very sensitive time for family members and most persons are not able to handle this transition emotionally or provide the level of care that is needed for the cancer patient,” said Ms Major.

All donations for the iDonate campaign can be made at any Cash N’ Go location in Nassau or in the Family Islands (Rock Sound, Eleuthera; Freeport, Exuma and Abaco), at the Cancer Society of the Bahamas headquarters or online at www.cancersocietybahamas.org. The campaign will run for a year; until June 27, 2017.