GALLERY: Mrs SA 2015 finalist raises funds for CANSA

Fundraising events are tricky – guests who RSVP don’t always arrive and the outcome always comes down to how much is raised for charity.

Mrs South Africa finalist Bianca Parsons needn’t have worried about any of this. On 7 August she held a dinner in the beautiful setting of Memoire Wedding and Function Venue in Honeydew to help raise funds for The Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA).

Guests included Carin and Charine van den Bergh of CANSA, former SA Bachelor and cancer survivor Eddy Rust and a number of current Mrs SA finalists who arrived to show their support. The master of ceremonies for the evening was wedding planner, decathlete and former Survivor SA contestant, Zavion Kotze. The evening’s entertainment included performances by Daniel Baron and Bad Peter.

The highlight of the evening was a talk by Van den Bergh, who gave insight to what the organisation of CANSA actually does. The statistic to date is that one in four people will be affected by cancer. She said that in the West Rand area alone, about 1 000 patients are registered with CANSA and often, registered patients are battling financially. Therefore they are dependent on the non-profit ornaisation for help.

Charine explained how CANSA operates on three tenets – research, education and support. According to Van den Bergh, “CANSA spends approximately R12 million per year on cancer research and is the only organisation in South Africa that does cancer research. CANSA helped in the creation of the vaccine against the HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) vaccine, which helps to prevent cervical cancer.”

The second tenet – education, involves giving talks to raise awareness and minimise risks. She pointed out, “It’s all well and good to find a cure for cancer, but what if it was prevented in the first place?”

She maintained that the third tenet of CANSA’s services – support, is essential since dealing with cancer is not something one can do alone.

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