The Brave Bag Foundation hosted their first annual fundraising gala dinner in June at The Hilton Hotel to celebrate National Cancer Survivor Day.
Tasneem Docrat, founder of The Brave Bag Foundation and metastatic breast cancer patient, says the purpose of the fundraising gala dinner was to celebrate cancer survivors and an opportunity to celebrate life on National Cancer Survivor Day.
A total of R8000 was raised through 120 ticket sales (less cost) which will help The Brave Bag Foundation continue handing out Brave Bags to newly diagnosed cancer patients at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital Oncology Unit.
The night saw four cancer survivors share their journeys: Yaseen Valli shared his experience with Hodgkin lymphoma, Jocelyn Moodley spoke about having head cancer, Farhana Bhana shared her diagnosis of endometrial cancer and Tasneem spoke about living with metastatic breast cancer.
The keynote speaker was radiologist, Dr Nadia Jajbhay. She highlighted the importance of early detection and her passion for treating cancer patients.
Sponsors
Tasneem says, “The following companies and individuals were instrumental in ensuring the success of the event: Panache International, Trade Route Mall, The Rabia Khota Foundation, Soweto Clinical Trials Centre, Securitek, Shiraz Auto and YAB PinkBeard Initiative.”
“Thank you to KLM and Air France for sponsoring a lucky draw of two economy return tickets to any European destination; Skin and Body International for sponsoring a lucky draw of iS Clinical skincare products to a cancer survivor valued at R2500; Khans Meat Market who sponsored the biltong; FEMS mocktails; Jason’s Flower Market for the bouquets; Glass City for the artwork on the gifts; Baby Pumpkin for the speaker gifts and Mukti Devchand for sponsoring the snacks.”
“All in all, the event was a great success and we will be hosting one every year. The vision going forward for The Brave Bag Foundation is to raise funds to bridge the gap between private and public healthcare. We want to use those funds to help public patients access life-saving treatment.”
