No images? Click here
Helping Survivors of all Ages Celebrate Life
Survivors (cancer patients) are a top priority for us throughout the year, but in June we highlight the perseverance of cancer patients undergoing treatment or in remission and remind them they are valued and need not be alone in the fight against cancer if they reach out to us for support.
We acknowledge:
- the severity of the illness they are battling and their fears
- the toll cancer takes on their body, mind and spirit during and after treatment
- the strain their cancer journey places on relationships
- the drain medical costs place on their finances
- their frustration with a healthcare system that is not always there for them when they need it most
We encourage them to hold on to the hope they have of a future without cancer and not to give up
How We Help Survivors:
We aim to make it a little easier to go through the trauma of a cancer diagnosis and treatment with our care and support services, so that patients, caregivers and loved ones can experience practical support, camaraderie and hope in spite of the disease.
Video CANSA Tele Counselling Service
CANSA provides free emotional support to patients, caregivers and loved ones in the form of a Tele Counselling service (available in 7 languages, by appointment at 0800 22 66 22), a variety of support groups and a Facebook support group for cancer patients and loved ones and one for caregivers of cancer patients. Free online support resources are also available.
Video CANSA Stoma Services
Our clinical specialist nurses offer free advice to patients and caregivers regarding side effects of types of cancer, treatment, nutrition, pain management and palliative care. They also arrange Tele Stoma consultations for patients battling to adjust to having a stoma or dealing with stoma related difficulties and stoma products are available to patients through our Stoma Clinics.
Our Home-based Care programme is expanding rapidly. Contact info@cansa.org.za for more information regarding this service.
CANSA also provides support to patients through medical equipment hire, breast prostheses and bras, lymphoedema garments, wigs and headwear, and incontinence support.
We can accommodate cancer patients living far way from treatment centres at our eight CANSA Care Homes for an average of six weeks, to give them the opportunity to proceed with treatment, while staying in a home-from-home environment. Private accommodation is expensive and if it weren’t for our Care Homes, many patients would have to forgo treatment.
Video CANSA Care Home Facilities
Our Advocacy team advocate on behalf of cancer patients that are battling to access medication (including those used to manage pain), or timeous treatment and work to inform the Health Department of shortages of stoma products for patients at government hospitals.
A new initiative to assist cancer patients are our CANSA Information Desks at public hospitals, providing information to patients and helping with referrals to support groups. Currently we have one at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital and we have received approval to have information desks at Klerksdorp Hospital, Steve Biko Academic Hospital (Pretoria), Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital (Durban) and Universitas Hospital (Free State) and hope to expand this service to other parts of the country soon.
Helping Young Cancer Survivors
Receiving a diagnosis as an adult is difficult, but even more so when it’s a child or teenager and it is especially hard on parents of paediatric patients. When a child or teenager is diagnosed with cancer, CANSA TLC offers support to sustain paediatric patients, parents and loved ones as they face their worst fear.
Liam Fagan’s mother confided that when she heard that Liam had cancer, it felt as if her legs were giving way and that she tried to convince herself that she was dreaming. She kept hoping she would wake up from the nightmare. She said that it is a very difficult experience.
Liam
Liam’s sister Payton
Doctor receiving donor line for transplant
CANSA TLC was able to step in to help Liam (4 yrs) when they received a request from medical staff to help secure a donor line for Liam’s sister, Payton (14 yrs), for his bone marrow transplant.
The request for a donor line was received just a few days before the transplant was scheduled at Red Cross Children’s Hospital, so TLC staff set about the task with a sense of urgency. Within one day of the request, the donor line was secured, and Liam’s transplant could proceed. We’re so grateful that we could support this determined young man and his family in this way, especially since Liam has been living with cancer since the age of two and due to damage from chemotherapy to his rectum, had to have a stoma inserted. He has endured many health challenges, but he is a true warrior and doesn’t let anything hold him back.
Liam and our other young patients inspire us daily. This is what some of them have to say about their cancer experience:
Agrippa Ngobeni (diagnosed Gr.10), “I never thought I’d live past 18, now I am 25! It seems as if I have much more life ahead than I thought possible.”
Fortune Manama (13 yrs at diagnosis and now in university), “Seeing so many of my ward friends pass away, I know I owe it to them to live my life to the fullest every day!”
Modiphonso Maema (17 yrs – excerpt from her poem ‘I Refuse’), “I refuse to give away my will for life…I refuse to let life pass me by…I refuse to let my dream slip…my existence matters…I refuse to lose hope, to give up!”
Oncology parents and paediatric patients need moments to enjoy, relax and unwind with friends and family. CANSA TLC staff strive to help our paediatric cancer patients celebrate life, by experiencing moments of joy amid chemotherapy, transfusions, and transplants.
We collaborate with play therapists arranging sessions at treatment facilities, arrange fun and dress up days. We also celebrate birthdays and help make happy memories for our patients and their loved ones. Our TLC support is also practical in nature, and we collaborate with Paediatric Oncologists and oncology ward staff to cater to young patient’s needs as they arise.
Video CANSA TLC Services
CANSA TLC provides food parcels and toiletry packs, and accommodation for paediatric patients receiving treatment far from home and their parents, through its TLC Nicus Lodge in Pretoria at Steve Biko Academic Hospital, Family Lodge (Durban) and Paediatric Oncology Ward (Pietersburg Provincial Hospital) in Limpopo. A TLC Teenage Support room (Tygerberg Hospital) is also available to teens.
Further, support is provided to paediatric oncology wards at Charlotte Maxeke, George Mukhari, Steve Biko, Polokwane, Kimberley Provincial, Port Elizabeth and Tygerberg Hospitals.
CANSA provides ports and broviacs, allowing for less invasive treatment procedures; short term lines; emergency support through provision of high flow oxygen nasal canula, needles or dressings as required; medication (in the event that medication prescribed by the Paediatric Oncologist is not sufficient to manage extreme nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation); wheelchairs or strollers for patients who are blind due to cancer or have had a leg amputation; and prostheses (artificial eyes).
Food parcels are donated to Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital in Qqeberha and nutrition supplements to Parklands Hospital in Durban.
Emotional support is a key TLC offering, with free Tele Counselling being accessible to paediatric patients, siblings, parents and loved ones and individual counselling is given at TLC facilities and face-to-face support groups. We also have a support group for parents who have lost a child to cancer and a WhatsApp support group for teenage cancer patients or teens whose loved ones have cancer. A Facebook Support Group for parents and loved ones – TLC Childhood Cancer Support – is also available. Teens who wish to join a support group, may complete the online form.
Passion for Paediatric Patients
A few of our CANSA TLC staff share about the work they do to support children and teens with cancer, as well as their parents and loved ones and what it means to them. Anthea Lewis (TLC Western Cape), echoes the collective sentiment of TLC staff: “For me, this is not work, it is a calling…” Read more…
Disclaimer
Adult Support
The responsibility rests with patients to contact CANSA for assistance. CANSA is not informed of any diagnoses / of patients being treated at medical centres. Family need to obtain permission from patients, before CANSA may contact them. Read more…
Children and Teen Support
CANSA is not aware of all children / teens diagnosed with cancer since they go to various paediatric oncology treatment centres across the country and CANSA is not provided with any information in this regard from treatment facilities. We rely on parents / guardians or loved ones to contact us directly for support. Read more…
