WORLD Cancer Day on February 4 called for us all to “close the care gap”. It’s a heartening sentiment at any level, but particularly when you acknowledge the South African context, where a lot of people are unable to access suitable healthcare.
It is a gap where many NGOs stand, including Reach for Recovery (R4R), which – even through the hard Covid lockdown years – reaches out to underprivileged breast cancer survivors, supplying silicone breast prostheses free of charge to those recovering and offering counselling and community to those undergoing treatment.
The South African Mushroom Farmers’ Association (SAMFA) runs the Power of Pink campaign through Pick n Pay stores nationally to fund this initiative, called the Ditto Project. Each October, R1 from every pink punnet of fresh mushrooms bought at Pick n Pay stores goes to this uplifting work. In 2022, a total of R587 262 was raised this way; and since 2011, more than 8 350 silicone prostheses, costing in excess of R7.45 million, have been distributed through the Ditto Project to women who could not afford them. The Power of Pink campaign has contributed 99.3% of the total project costs.
Reach for Recovery has done its work for over 50 years, making it in many ways ahead of its time when viewed through the lens of the World Cancer Day directive. The organisers of the international event note particularly that “the reality today is who you are and where you live could mean the difference between life and death. When it comes to cancer, many of us are denied basic care, despite the fact that we live in a time of awe-inspiring advancements in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. It isn’t fair. But we can change this.”
By consistently focusing on South Africa’s disadvantaged breast cancer survivors and closing the cancer care gap for them, R4R has done just that, embodying the very definition of care: ie, to “look after and provide for the needs of” others.
Having now fully resumed the Ditto Project Prosthesis Fitting Service, which sadly had to be halted due to Covid lockdown regulations, R4R last year managed to fit 562 women with individually colour- and size-matched external silicone breast forms.
And there is more good news to come in 2023. Stephné Jacobs, chairperson of Reach for Recovery, announced that, in conjunction with Style Products, a more comfortable and wearable prosthesis is going to be manufactured and distributed this year.
“I am delighted to announce the launch of a lighter weight silicone prosthesis,” says Stephné. “It will close the gap in quality care, and benefit women who do not have the resources to get the proper-fitting silicone prostheses they need to look and feel healthy again. These new prostheses naturally offer more comfort to the women we serve.
“The lighter prostheses are soft, look natural and beautiful and come with a cotton backing that will protect them in order to ensure they last longer.”
Each prosthesis container will now also include instructions on how to sew a pocket to an ordinary bra to hold the silicone prosthesis, thereby eliminating another costly obstacle to living a full life for those who cannot afford mastectomy bras.
“We love that we can contribute to the Ditto Project and have the chance to transform the lives of women,” states Ross Richardson, chairperson of SAMFA. “We hope that Reach for Recovery increases the self-image and dignity of many more women in 2023 through their amazing offering.”
Research from 2010 at the Beckman Institute at the City of Hope Cancer Centre in California suggests that mushrooms can also help in the fight against breast cancer. It found that eating 10g of mushrooms a day – that’s just one button mushroom – more than halved the risk of developing breast cancer. This is backed up by several Asian population studies, which indicate that mushroom consumption appears to be inversely related to breast cancer risk.
So, by whichever means we can, let us all endeavour to close the cancer care gap, in our lives and the lives of our fellow South Africans.
