Annual Narrative Report Period: 1 March 2017 - 28 February 2018

15 Castle/Kasteel Street,

Paarl, 7646

Western Cape,

South Africa

General Enquiries:

Office Hours: +27 21 870 1282

Email:pm@littlefighters.org.za

Trust Reg No: IT2817/2010

NPO No: 089 376

PBO No: 930037657

Trustees Wessel Symington - Legal Advisor/Trustee

Donovan Louw - Bookkeeper/Trustee Callie Schwab – Bookkeeper/Trustee

The Little Fighters Cancer Trust (LFCT) is a registered Non-Profit Organisation (NGO) and a Public

Benefit Organisation (PBO) since 2010.

This National Childhood Cancer Support Organisation consists of 3 full-time staff members who work

from offices in Paarl, Western Cape, which also houses our “Pre-Loved Charity Shop” and a few

wonderful volunteers/representatives across the country.

LFCT is committed to providing support in an holistic manner, treating each Child with Cancer and

his/her Family as individuals, as we understand and respect the uniqueness of each situation. It is

also our mission to preserve the dignity and pride of each individual.

The Little Fighters Cancer Trust’s work is divided into two main sections:

Support to Children with Cancer and their Families

What truly sets the Little Fighters Cancer Trust apart is the highly individualised support offered,

which comes from a deep understanding of the fact that every individual, every family, has unique

and very specific needs. Every effort is made to ensure that the support given is targeted and

practical, whilst still ensuring the most efficient distribution of resources.

The support that LFCT gives is not compartmentalised or predetermined, as circumstances differ

from one beneficiary to the next.

The Little Fighters Cancer Trust Offers support to Children with Cancer and their Families in:

Individual Family Homes

Paediatric Oncology Hospital Wards

Places of Safety which house Children with Cancer

Requests for support are received from Social Workers, Hospital Wards, Teachers, Friends and

Family; either in person, or via telephone, social media or e-mail.

Support works on a sliding scale, which takes into consideration income, needs, family size, and

other factors. Many of the more affluent Childhood Cancer-affected families are often shunned by

support organisations; however, while the more needy families will get the bulk of the tangible

support, LFCT will never exclude any family, as often all that is required is emotional or moral

support, and knowledge. Little Fighter Cancer Trust does not turn anyone away.

LFCT provides Support in and out of hospital, on a National scale.

Advocating and promoting Childhood Cancer Awareness

LFCT undertakes to promote and advocate National Childhood Cancer Awareness in an effort to

increase the amount of diagnosed Childhood Cancer cases in South Africa. Childhood Cancer

Awareness will translate into an increase in earlier diagnosis, which will result in a higher survival

rate for Children with Cancer in South Africa.

Approximately 80% of the around 200 000 diagnosed Childhood Cancer cases worldwide are

in developing countries, including South Africa. The Child Cancer Survival Rate in developed

countries like the USA and Europe is between 80% and 90%; in developing countries like

South Africa the survival rate is a shocking 10% to 20%.

The severe lack of Awareness surrounding Childhood Cancer reflects in the extremely poor

rate of diagnosis; approximately only 33% of Childhood Cancer cases in South Africa are

correctly diagnosed.

Earlier diagnosis affords a Child with Cancer a much higher chance of survival as 70% of

Childhood Cancers are 100% curable… IF diagnosed in time!

An increase in early diagnosis will only come about as a direct result of increased Awareness

around the Early Warning Signs of Childhood Cancer. In South Africa, only approximately 700

children are diagnosed with cancer annually; up to 1 500 children are either misdiagnosed or

not diagnosed at all.

Childhood Cancer treatments currently result in 60% of Children with Cancer suffering

lifelong health and developmental problems. Earlier diagnosis would mean shorter

treatment periods, hence a better chance of long-term quality of life.

The Little Fighters Cancer Trust is committed to spreading Childhood Cancer Awareness

every day of the year via talks and the distribution of Childhood Cancer Early Warning Signs

pamphlets and posters at nurseries, playschools, schools, hospitals, clinics and other

institutions, with the highlight of its efforts being during September, International Childhood

Cancer Awareness Month.

Report compiled by Billi du Preez

Marketing/PR Consultant for LFCT

March 2017

Helen’s Story – Retinoblastoma

LFCT is often approached to assist parents of Children with Cancer to tell their story, and we were

approached in this case by a mother to help explain her toddler daughter’s cancer to her classmates

who had been teasing her because she only had one eye.

We did this by compiling an e-book aimed at 4yr-old toddlers, explaining what Retinoblastoma is,

how it gets treated and that the little girl is still the same, and no different than her classmates, and

that is hurts her when they tease her about her eye. It also explained that Helen would be getting a

prosthetic eye at a later stage and then nobody would be able to tell the difference, and that she

would be able to do anything that someone with two eyes can do.

Helen was diagnosed with cancer (Retinoblastoma) at the age of 8wks old. The only way to save her

life was to have her eye removed, but because she was so young, it was decided that her prosthetic

eye would have to wait for a bit, which caused little Helen some problems at play school.

Children will be children, and the 4yr olds started asking a lot of questions about the 2 year old, one-

eyed toddler - one child said Helen is a pirate because she only has one eye, and the children would

try to touch the eyepatch, which scared Helen a bit...

While Helen's mommy felt that her daughter was quite confident despite her traumatic start to life,

the teacher was a bit worried and wanted to ensure that her confidence was not destroyed, and

thought this a good opportunity to educate the children about Childhood Cancer and also teach

them that some things are just not appropriate to say.

The mom and teacher let us know that that book was great and helped a lot – they used it to inform

the children about Helen’s situation and also about Childhood Cancer in general.

April 2017

Princesses and Superheroes Party

On the afternoon/evening of 7 April the Little Fighters Cancer Trust held a Princesses and

Superheroes Party at Zanddrif for our Little Fighters as part of a 5 hour Family Fun-Filled Program.

From early in the day the Fairies, Elves, Gremlins and other good peeps were all very busy flitting

and running around making sure that everything was just so for our Little Fighters and their

Families.... Jumping castles had to be set up, hundreds of balloons had to be blown up, tables had to

be set with wonderful Princess and Superhero themed EVERYTHING from cups to tablecloths,

serviettes to plates... and then there were all the themed eats and the PRESENTS - everything to

make little eyes grow REALLY wide and frowns turn upside down into HUGE grins.

This was the day that LFCT was going to make unforgettable for these Little Fighters and their

siblings - and the parents had just as much fun as they did...

The party was attended by 94 Little Fighters & their Families as well as all LFCT Staff, Trustees and

various Volunteers. Transport was arranged and paid for by LFCT for those who required it, and a

wonderful time was had by all. There were balloons, themed paper plates and serviettes, themed

cupcakes, gifts, sweets, biscuits, party packets, face painting, slides and jumping castles, and plenty

of Princesses and Heroes to entertain the Little Fighters and give the weary parents a bit of time to

relax as well as see their Little Fighters having GREAT fun.

Little faces that knew only pain and suffering were transformed into Fantasy Creatures by a

wonderful face painter, and Princesses danced the actual Princess Dance while Superheroes weight-

lifted some of our Little Fighters, to their utter delight. Early evening saw the families moving to the

boma for some live entertainment, dancing, and a buffet dinner of mini-hamburgers, mini-hotdogs,

mini-pizzas etc. There was singing, there was dancing, there was LOADS of joy and laughter - and for

just a while the accursed cancer took a back seat while everyone celebrated LIFE in the best way

possible - with Loved Ones - in a Fantasy World free of all worry and cares...

By the time they all left there were just happy faces and sleepy smiles while playing in Fantasy Land

in their dreams....

May 2017

Mother’s Day

May is the month that we honour Mothers in South Africa, and if there was ever a mother that

deserves to be honoured, it is the mother of a Child with Cancer.

Mother’s Day 2017 in Port Elizabeth was also really very special and dear to our hearts

as #LittleFighter Rochelle Momberg ( who is now in remission and was crowned Miss Teen Port

Elizabeth in 2016) and her Mommy Vicky handled the PE Mother’s Day Deliveries.

What a morning it was! Surprising the Mommies at Red Cross G1, whose #LittleFighters were too ill

to go home for Mother's Day Weekend, when they did not expect any visits, never mind a gift! With

Grace, most of the Mommies could go home, so we could also spoil the Doctors and Nurses who

Fight side by side with all the #LittleFighters every day! We could also leave gifts with Doc for

Mommies whose #Fighters were scheduled to be admitted later during the day. It is amazing to see

the Mommies absolutely BLOOM when they receive their gifts.

Our 2017 Mother’s Day gifting at Tygerberg Hospital was very special as #LittleFighter Kyle, who

was diagnosed two days before Mother's Day last year, spent a long time in this ward during his own

Fight while undergoing treatment, and he and his parents accompanied LFCT to spread some love.

Each mother picked her own very beautifully wrapped gift (thanks to the Blossoms) and it warmed

our hearts to see the excitement and beautiful smiles on those normally very stressed and tired

faces.

June 2017

Cape West Girl Guides SA

In June LFCT partnered with the Cape West Girl Guides SA – these wonderful young ladies distributed

close on 500 Early Warning Signs of Childhood Cancer Posters throughout the Western Cape,

spreading much needed Childhood Cancer Awareness in their Communities. They also collected gently

preloved goodies for our Charity Shoppe and filled up 98 donation tins with small change for LFCT. A

BIG Thank You to every one of these young ladies.

Peer Recognition LFCT Blog

June also brought forth peer recognition for the LFCT Blog once more - our blog was

selected as one of the Top 75 Childhood Cancer Blogs on the web. This is the most

comprehensive list of Top 75 Childhood Cancer Blogs on the internet and we are honoured to

have received this award. The LFCT blog was placed 5th behind International Big Guns such

as the American Childhood Cancer Organization (ACCO), Kensington, MD; Children's Cancer

Research Fund, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Children's Cancer Institute, Sydney, Australia; and

Children’s Hospital & Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska We are honoured to be selected

amongst such revered company and PROUDLY display the "Awarded Top 75 Childhood

Cancer Blog" Badge on our blog!

July 2017

Mandela Day

Drakenstein Fire Department Early Mandela Day LFCT HQ Move

July is generally a very busy month for LFCT, but despite this, due to flooding and other problems in

the premises that housed our headquarters and Pre-Loved Charity Shoppe, we once again had to

move – thankfully only a few doors down. LFCT does various Mandela Day Projects annually, but his

time it was a bit different – WE were the ones desperately in need of assistance!

At this stage LFCT consisted of three permanent staff members - all ladies - and there was a massive

load of pre-loved stock, hospital and family Support stock, office furniture and equipment and

electronics which we needed to move "two doors down" in the same road - not far, but an

impossible task for us without help. The call went out for help and the troops rallied with gusto!

Members of the Drakenstein Fire Department stepped in and decided to do their annual 67 Minutes

for #MandelaDay activities a couple of days early, and turned up in droves to help!

They CARRIED every single item we needed moved over, down the road for us. They were

incredible! The individuals in civilian clothing, are members that actually came to help on their off-

day! Once everything had been moved over, the ladies from the response room came to help us sort

out what goes where. The ENTIRE MOVE, took a mere 1h12m to do!

Drakenstein Municipality Corporate Services Mandela Day with LFCT

The Drakenstein Municipality Corporate Office Staff spent their #67Minutes for #MandelaDay with

Little Fighters Cancer Trust - sorting out, counting, packing (and even taking home to wash), stock for

the LFCT Pre-Loved Charity Shoppe. These Ladies and Gents saved us HOURS of work, which means

we can DO MORE!

They did not come empty-handed though - upon arrival they also handed over a very welcome

donation of nappies and small size adult diapers, as well as some non-perishable foodstuffs, cleaning

materials and toiletries which were sent out to our #LittleFighters and their Families as part of our

Family Support efforts.

Get Wrapped Hospital Outreach

We delivered lovely, warm blankets to G3 (Paediatric Oncology Ward) at Tygerberg

Hospital and also spent a bit of time with the Children, Mommies and Staff, who were all

delighted by the gifting. The blankets were hand-made by Blanket Angels, a project which

creates employment for Women through making these, and other products. We spent a bit

of time with the Children, Mommies and Staff, who were all delighted by the gifting.

We delivered warm and fluffy blankets to Red Cross's G1 (Paediatric Oncology Ward) and

every child and every parent got gifted with some LFCT warmth and love! The Ward itself

was under lockdown due to a virus and no outsiders were permitted entry, so the

mountains of blankets were handed over to Staff, who did the gifting in the Ward. We were

at least able to gift the blankets personally and share some smiles in the outpatient clinic.

Our Rep Lauren Hook delivered a whole carload of lovely soft, snuggly warm winter blankets

to the Little Fighters at Grey’s Hospital, Pietermaritzburg as well as to their parent/bedside

caregiver, and both the Mommies and Staff were SO grateful for this gifting, There were

massive smiles of joy and gratitude all round as they snuggled up all nice and toasty and just

enjoyed the love and light that Lauren always spreads around.

Get WRAPPED Family Support

Get WRAPPED Goodies and Food Parcels were also sent to many of our Little Fighter

Families. New warm winter clothes and warm blankets are also not within the budget yet

very necessary as Children with Cancer generally get very cold while undergoing treatment

for their cancer and this can make them feel worse. Soft warm blankets and warm winter

clothing helps keep them warm. Every Family also received a Family Support Box containing

some lovely warm blankets plus the basics and some nice winter foodstuffs - local families

also received fresh and frozen goodies.

August 2017

Romans Pizza Party

Thanks to the LFCT Supporters who nominated us in a Facebook-run Mandela Day Charity

Pizza Give-Away by Roman’s Pizzas, August was Pizza Party Time, and who does not

love pizza!!

Vasie and Seelan from Sitara Energy were our hands in Durban - they were able to spoil so

many #LittleFighters, Parents and Staff at Albert Luthuli Hospital - delivering 52 large pizzas

on our behalf and surprising everyone with pizza for lunch!

We were also very blessed to be able to spoil all the Little Fighters, Parents and Staff at Red

Cross G1 Oncology Ward with Romans Pizza, juices and some more blankets! Athlone

Romans Pizza staff were really awesome. They prepped the 70 pizzas before we arrived and

the tower of pizzas on the counter was so high the staff had to stand on little crates to

manage to get the rest piled on as well!

We were tremendously blessed to be able to deliver 60 piping hot, fragrant and delicious

pizzas to the Paediatric Oncology Ward and Clinic at Tygerberg Hospital, which allowed us

to spoil all the Little Fighters, Parents, Doctors and Nursing Staff with lunch, which was

highly appreciated.

While we were delivering blankets to the hospitals in Cape Town, our Mother-Daughter

Team in Port Elizabeth delivered a massive treat to PE Provincial and St George's Hospitals.

We could deliver 40 delicious, warm and nom-nom-nom pizzas in PE, so all the

#LittleFighters, Mommies and Staff were spoiled!

Lauren Hook, our PMB Rep delivered a lovely treat of pizzas to all the Little Fighters,

Caregivers and Staff at Grey’s Hospital and reports that there were huge smiles from all.

Everyone enjoyed the break in routine and the very fragrant, fresh pizzas and they all

thanked her, Romans Pizza and LFCT profusely for the wonderful treat.

September 2017

LFCT Open Day

September is International Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and once again the Little

Fighters Cancer Trust was hard at work trying to raise Childhood Cancer Awareness by

sharing information and Personal Stories.

While many of our supporters are vaguely aware of what we do via our Social Media posts

etc. we decided that as we now actually had offices, it was time to hold LFCT’s very first

Open Day!

We invited Business Owners and Managers, CSI or Charity Projects Staff / Teachers who run

community projects at the various local schools / Individuals who do charity drives at

Churches and Sports Clubs and also Members of the Public and ANY interested individuals to

come and see what we do Nationally from our small HQ in Paarl, with a full-time staff of

only 3.

All of our projects were exhibited and we walked everyone through, explaining exactly what

we do and answering any questions they had. The aim of this Open Day was to focus

attention on Childhood Cancer Awareness, but also to hopefully garner more local Support

for our Projects and also Pre-Loved Charity Shoppe.

There was complimentary coffee / tea / juice and cupcakes for each attendee as well as

pamphlets, gold ribbons with little Childhood Cancer Early Warning Signs cards and much

more.

Garth Taylor Charity Fight

Garth Taylor, a constant hit-churner in the South African music industry over the past 17

years and an avid fitness fanatic whose second passion is kickboxing - he won the South

African Amateur Kickboxing Champion title in the Light Contact category in 2014 - once

again went into the ring for the Little Fighters Cancer Trust.

Garth decided to LITERALLY FIGHT for Children with Cancer during International Childhood

Cancer Awareness Month, and took to the ring On Friday, 15 September 2017 during the

"White Collar Boxing 19" event at Scarlett Ribbon in Greenstone Park.

Garth once again won his fight and thereby raised some much needed funding for LFCT.

Kyle’s Wish Come True!

Garth also made one of our Teen Fighters, Kyle’s, wishes come true! Kyle is Garth’s biggest fan, and

Garth made his day by taking him on an outing all over Cape Town a few weeks after the fight – Kyle

was in 7th Heaven!!!

Kyle and his mom were treated to a visit to the Cape Town Castle of Good Hope, where they saw

some great sites, and then on to the V&A Waterfront where they looked at anything and everything

and had lunch.

What REALLY made Kyle's day was that Garth gifted Kyle with his Winner's Medal - Kyle wore it

proudly and would not take it off (we have a sneaky suspicion that he may have slept with it on too).

THANK YOU Garth, for being such a MENSCH!!!

October 2017

Butterflies for Shanaya

In October we were introduced to Little Fighter Shanaya Govender, who at a mere 3 years of

age had been diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma on 13 September 2017. The bottom half of her

left humerus has been eaten away was fractured, and the cancer had also spread to her

lungs. Shanaya was really ill and very upset that her gorgeous long hair was falling out from

the chemotherapy treatments. She loves butterflies, so we did a butterfly drive for our

Butterfly Princess to remind her that caterpillars turn into beautiful butterflies (in other

words her hair will grow and she will be beautiful again).

Shanaya has since had to have her left arm amputated at the shoulder but is doing well.

Beneficiary Room Make-Over

LFCT did a very special room make-over for one of our Families in October. There is really

nothing worse than to have to stay in a room that is cold and uncomfortable when one is ill,

especially if one still has to share that room too. This project was one of those "Special

Projects" that we absolutely LOVE doing as it reaslly makes SUCH a difference in our Little

Fighters lives! Protea Hotel Marriott Stellenbosch treated the Family to a weekend of

relaxation and gave them space to breathe after recent hardships while Team LFCT and

volunteers went to work on the make-over. It was really a massive surprise for them to

come home to!

Aleem’s Wish & Funeral

LFCT also put out a plea to make another terminal young lad, Little Fighter Aleem

Bowman’s final wish come true – he wanted to go to UShaka Maraine World as Muhammad,

with whom he had become friends in hospital, had done the previous year.

Arrangements were basically completed and everything was ready for Aleem and his

mommy to go on the trip of a lifetime – to meet Gambit and the other dolphins at uShaka

Marine World.

A week before the planned trip an opportunity was presented for Aleem to experience his

other love – the love of flying and all things do with flying, speed and height – by going on a

chartered flight around Cape Town with his mom and sister on Friday afternoon.

Unfortunately this was also not to be…

They were all gathered at the airport ready to go on the flight then, just before they were

about to board the plane, Aleem started vomiting up blood and his nose started to bleed

and he was rushed to hospital and unfortunately earned his Angel Wings at 19H20 on 15th

October.

The money that had not yet been paid over was used for his funeral instead :'(

December 2017

LFCT Christmas Elf

December is LFCT Christmas Elf time, which consists of getting volunteers to act as our

representative to get Christmas presents donated, according to a list provided by LFCT, then

collecting all presents from across South Africa via our wonderful transport partner, Kargo, who do

all our transporting for free.

Once all presents, sweets etc. are in Cape Town, they get sorted packed, boxed up and sent to our

Ambassadors in the various provinces, from where they will be delivered to our Little Fighters in the

Paediatric Oncology Wards around the 16th December.

Various Christmas Deliveries were made across the country during December; each of our Little

Fighter Families also received a Christmas Food Box which included all the basics plus some treats as

well as a beautiful Christmas Present for our Little Fighter and each sibling as well.

We were also, courtesy of a fantastic sponsor, able to make some Christmas Wishes come true,

including providing one Little Fighter with a new bed and bedding; a stove for another Little Fighter

Family; a special pair of shoes for our Teen Fighter who has a prosthetic leg; and the payment of a

year’s school fees for another Little Fighter, amongst others.