Businesses invited to join CANSA Relay For Life

The Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA) will host the fifth annual CANSA Relay For Life Corporate event on Thursday, 19 and Friday, 20 September at Denel’s Irene Campus Corporate Office.

Playing host to corporate South Africa, this year’s relay theme is ‘The Sky is Not the Limit When You’re At The Movies’ and encourages any business owner, employee, family and friends to come and join in on the fun.“This year’s CANSA Relay For Life Corporate event is starring cancer survivors as our special guests, along with you, the business world, in order to stand together in the fight against cancer. Relay is an inspirational, overnight experience that brings everyone in the corporate community together to show that united, we are stronger than cancer. It celebrates survivorship, remembers those lost, and most importantly rallies us all together to fight back against this dreaded disease,” says CANSA Relay For Life corporate chairperson, Elise Fourie.This relay experience starts at 16:00, where corporate teams take turns walking a track all the way up until 06:00 the following morning. This gives employees the opportunity to fight cancer while building team spirit and corporate networking. Participants enjoy camping-out, entertainment, good food, games and team building.CANSA Relay For Life Corporate is all also about getting corporates and corporate cancer survivors involved, and offers the opportunity for cancer patients to be celebrated as the survivors they truly are. Cancer survivors are invited to the Relay For Life Corporate as VIP guests.This experience also grants the families and work colleagues of cancer survivors a time to remember those who have lost the fight, as well as those still fighting – at the Luminaria ceremony. Candles are lit inside paper bags and are placed around the relay track as glowing tributes to those who have been affected by cancer. These candles remain lit throughout Relay For Life until the closing ceremony.“We’re also passionate about educating the public on the importance of knowing the cancer warning signs and how to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle. This event also provides the chance for the community to raise funds for CANSA, in order to continue their care and support service to those affected by cancer,” continues Fourie.As a cancer survivor, Fourie knows the impact your work environment has on your cancer journey. “Having a support system while you are undergoing treatment, is the most important tool to have. It’s so important to have your work and colleagues understand and be informed on what you are going through. Using this Relay event, we hope to educate and help both employees and employers get information and help deal with the challenges of overcoming a cancer diagnosis.”At this year’s Relay For Life Corporate, 50-year-old Jacques Prinsloo will attempt to speed walk 83km in 12 hours. “CANSA and cancer is very important to me, having been personally affected by cancer through family members and friends that had to fight this horrid disease. Some of them lost their battles and I watched others fight when they had nothing more to fight with. I wanted to show my commitment to these cancer survivors, but also to CANSA. So I’ve decided to commemorate CANSA’s 83 years in existence with the 83km,” said the businessman from Rustenburg.CANSA encourages companies to enter teams to participate and help fulfil their social responsibility. CANSA is a level four B-BBEE contributor.For more information, visit www.cansa.org.za. Alternatively connect with them on Facebook or on Twitter.