Zumbadesh fitness studios held a Zumba cancer awareness campaign on 25 October in collaboration with CanSurvive, a group which offers support to cancer sufferers and survivors.
At 7am, the instructors were already teaching a group of ladies and a brave gentleman dressed in pink to commemorate the occasion. The Halfway House Primary School hall was the perfect setting for the two-hour session.
Instructor, Angela Kennedy started the enthusiastic group off to an easy start, however she quickly changed pace and the warm up was over.
The ladies thought she was tough, until they were introduced to instructor Megan Fairhurst. Fairhurst even had ward 112 councillor Candice James worried. “I don’t think that move is legal,” said James as Fairhurst instructed the room to move their pelvis’ to the beat.
Amidst the fun though, two cancer survivors gave emotive talks on how early detection and a positive attitude are key to surviving cancer. Nontando Nkuta said she ignored a lump in her breast for a year because she thought having cancer automatically meant death. “I come from a family with a lot of cancer victims. By the time I went to the doctor, I had already reached stage three cancer.”
Nkuta who is now going through treatment is now an advocate for early detection and encourages a healthy lifestyle which involves exercise for all who want to survive the disease.
CanSurvive member, Daring Bhadais said he had prostate cancer and is glad to have survived it and is now off medication. “I would really like to encourage men who are over the age of 50 years to have PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) tests done for early detection, stick to a healthy diet and do not neglect exercise.”
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