The Tribune

SEVEN cancer organisations will be able to provide free services to even more patients thanks to a recent $90,000 donation from CIBC FirstCaribbean.

“This continued support has allowed us to touch so many lives, be it male, children, or women,” said Helen Rolle, Sister Sister Breast Cancer Support Group representative.

Ms Rolle spoke alongside Sister Sister President Andrea Sweeting and Cancer Society of The Bahamas President Dr Williamson Chea at a brief ceremony at the bank’s Airport Industrial Park location, where Chief Executive Officer Colette Delaney presented the New Providence funds from the 2018 “Walk for the Cure” cancer fundraising campaign. Smaller presentations were also conducted on Grand Bahama, Abaco, and Eleuthera to the Sister Sister Breast Cancer Support Group of Grand Bahama, the Cancer Association of Grand Bahama, and the Cancer Societies of Abaco, Eleuthera, and Grand Bahama.

“We started as a support group for women with breast cancer but had to open it up because the demand was so great – people were coming and we didn’t want to push anybody aside. These donations help our work gifting needles and port-a-caths, a surgically implanted instrument used to administer chemotherapy,” Ms Rolle said.

Dr Chea added, “We want to thank CIBC FirstCaribbean for all the work they’ve done in contributing to our cause. The funds they donate go a long way in terms of helping our cancer patients in the Bahamas.

“We have a cancer caring centre in Centreville, where patients come in from the Family Islands and stay for free; we also transport them to doctors’ offices for radiation treatment, and to the oncology clinic at the hospital. So the funds go to very good use.”

Ms Delaney said the bank’s “aim is to make a difference not just in the lives of people suffering from cancer, but also to provide help and support to the families of people who are suffering from this dreadful disease.”

She also said: “What’s most pleasing is not just the money we’ve managed to raise, but the number of people who come out, walk, and show solidarity with everybody who’s suffering. Last year we raised $90,000 thanks to the Bahamian public and corporate Bahamas, and we had more than 1,000 participants.”

“Walk for the Cure” was launched by CIBC FirstCaribbean in 2012. It is the bank’s flagship fundraiser across the Caribbean, raising over USD$2.2 million over the past seven years.