Just adding this to my other fundraising efforts to feel less helpless about the awful situation my friends find themselves in.
— 16 November 2011
This project benefits "GRf Emergency Fund", a program of Global Relief.
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This project benefits "GRf Emergency Fund", a program of Global Relief.
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Andries Louw
We are truly honoured to welcome you as an activist for Global Relief's (GRf) emergency fund to help the people of Japan. When I first read your story I was touched by it. Now Colin's comment below put in words what I was thinking too.
What you are doing is something special. Having gone through a lot of pain and suffering yourself, you are now drawing on that experience to demonstrate solidarity with others who are suffering. It means that they are not alone in their suffering.
This resonates very deeply with my "Zero" on my own GivenGain profile. On my profile I wrote "Zero suffering in silence". I don't believe that it's possible to stop all the suffering in the world, at least not right away. But if there is one thing we can do, it is to stop people from suffering in silence.
Thank you for practicing empathy, for putting yourself in the shoes of the people of Japan, because you have worn similar shoes yourself. May many more causes and people in need benefit from your story and your presence in the midst of suffering!
Andries Louw, GRf Marketing Manager.
Colin Habberton
One of the fortunate things about GivenGain is it gives me the opportunity to see so many wonderful people taking action for causes through projects they are investing their time and energies into. On the rare ocassion, there is a fellow Activist, who story is so personal, so relevant for a time and space that it needs to be told and retold over and over again.
You have a story like that. I don't think many people are able to truly understand what is going on in Japan right now and the suffering that the people of that beautiful country are dealing with. I can't even imagine what the people of Fukushima must be facing with explosions of a nuclear plant and growing danger of the radiation around them.
Kathleen Anne, I want to encourage you to share your story with as many people as possible so they can possibly get a glimpse of what it means to survive what you have gone through. You are a hero to me and I think you will be a hero to many many more.
You are my Activist for the Day: 17 of 365 and look forward to all you accomplish...
Andries Louw
Kathleen Anne
"In 1999 Kathleen Anne was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia while working as a teacher in Japan. A nurse gave her the results on a piece of paper, all written in Japanese. She could make out the words “red blood”, “white blood” and “small”, followed by figures that were way below the norm.
She went into remission after nine months of intense treatment and last year, celebrated her survivorship of ten years by rooting for the Japanese soccer team playing against Denmark in Rustenburg. (See photo right).
Kathleen Anne explains how everything from missing post, to public school holidays saw to it that she didn't go home to South Africa for a visit, but instead stayed in Japan and participated in a day of health screening for the community. “Had it not been for those tests I might have not been alive today,” she says.
After Kathleen Anne lost all of her hair following chemotherapy, she refused to cut it once it started growing back. “I feel like my strength is in my hair – it is a symbol for me and other people that life can start afresh. Once I realised I wasn't going to die, I needed to figure out how to live.”
It is now 2011 and Kathleen Anne has been in remission for 11 years - her hair has not been cut in eleven years! She is putting out a challenge and calling for you to support her online fundraising project - you can sponsor her TO CUT HER HAIR or NOT TO CUT HER HAIR and raise funds for CANSA in the process."
Thank-you for your support.
Kathleen
Kathleen Anne
"In 1999 Kathleen Anne was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia while working as a teacher in Japan. A nurse gave her the results on a piece of paper, all written in Japanese. She could make out the words “red blood”, “white blood” and “small”, followed by figures that were way below the norm.
She went into remission after nine months of intense treatment and last year, celebrated her survivorship of ten years by rooting for the Japanese soccer team playing against Denmark in Rustenburg. (See photo right).
Kathleen Anne explains how everything from missing post, to public school holidays saw to it that she didn't go home to South Africa for a visit, but instead stayed in Japan and participated in a day of health screening for the community. “Had it not been for those tests I might have not been alive today,” she says.
After Kathleen Anne lost all of her hair following chemotherapy, she refused to cut it once it started growing back. “I feel like my strength is in my hair – it is a symbol for me and other people that life can start afresh. Once I realised I wasn't going to die, I needed to figure out how to live.”
It is now 2011 and Kathleen Anne has been in remission for 11 years - her hair has not been cut in eleven years! She is putting out a challenge and calling for you to support her online fundraising project - you can sponsor her TO CUT HER HAIR or NOT TO CUT HER HAIR and raise funds for CANSA in the process."
Or focus on Japan with me and send your thoughts, prayers and money to those millons of people caught in the horror that is Japan today.
Andries Louw