Access to Cancer Treatment in South Africa

While the above video may not be about Childhood Cancer, it is indicative of the problems surrounding cancer treatment in South Africa, where there are currently too few hospitals serving too many people; no medical help to speak of in rural areas; and very few institutions that are fully capable of diagnosing and treating Childhood Cancer Patients.

This inevitably means that children have to travel to be treated at specialist treatment centres, such as at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, which adds a lot of emotional and physical stress to our Little Fighters and huge financial stress to their families.

One of the parents (generally the mother) is basically forced to give up their job in order to travel with their child when they need to go for treatment, and often end up staying in the area, spending most of the time at the bedside of their child (for weeks to years at a time), which also means that she needs to find local accommodation near the hospital and transport money to and from the hospital… that is for when she is not sleeping in a chair next to the bedside

This means additional costs such as hospital clothing and transport for the Little Fighter and transport, clothing, sleepwear, and personal hygiene products for the carer, plus additional accommodation costs and food costs etc. for the carer. Add to this the fact that many of these individuals come from remote rural areas, are often mainly poorly educated if at all, and have no clue of the ways of a big city and no familial or friend support, and it does not take a rocket scientist to understand just how much strain these poor mothers live with day in and day out.

With one of the parents out of work, this also adds additional financial strain to those at home, as well as emotional and psychological stress, especially if there are other children left at home…

THIS is what the Little Fighters Cancer Trust is all about ~

The Little Fighters Cancer Trust is a non-profit which strives to offer support of various kinds to Children with Cancer and their families.

We commit ourselves to providing support with a holistic approach; the end result always needs to be the preservation of individual dignity and pride.

LFCT will not implement any procedural limitations which will cause a delay in delivering assistance to Children with Cancer and their Families.

We do not have any limitations as to the types of assistance we can and will offer except for the availability of funding.

LFCT will at all times treat each Child with Cancer and his/her Family as individuals as we understand and respect the uniqueness of each situation.

We undertake to promote and advocate National Childhood Cancer Awareness in an effort to increase the amount of diagnosed Childhood Cancer cases in South Africa, as an increase in earlier diagnosis will result in a higher survival rate for Children with Cancer in South Africa.

Due to the fact that the Little Fighters Cancer Trust serves ALL Children with Cancer and their Families, irrespective of Race, Creed, Nationality or Religion, we are not liable for any support from the South African Government, and therefore rely SOLELY on Fundraising to do everything that we do (please have a look at our Projects Page for an idea of what all we do), which means that we rely on YOU for support, so please spare a few Rands/Dollars/Pounds/Euros etc. to help this worthy cause.

Donations

The Little Fighters Cancer Trust is a registered NPO with PBO status. This affords private and corporate donors the taxation benefits as set out in Section 18A.

BEE score points are also accumulated.

Trust Reg No: IT2817/2010
NPO No: 089 376
PBO No: 930037657

Bank Details

Account Holder: Little Fighters Cancer Trust
Bank: FNB Paarl Mall
Account No: 62380183013
Branch code: 250057
Swift code for international donations: FIRNZAJJ
Trust Reg No: IT2817/2010

PayPal Donations