{"id":17055,"date":"2024-10-22T13:41:29","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T11:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/?p=17055"},"modified":"2024-10-22T14:14:07","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T12:14:07","slug":"samfa-remove-barriers-for-breast-cancer-survivors-this-october","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/samfa-remove-barriers-for-breast-cancer-survivors-this-october\/","title":{"rendered":"Remove Barriers for Breast Cancer Survivors this October"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>There\u2019s something so gratifying, almost magical, about the way mushrooms fruit from mycelium to food heroes in mere weeks.<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">And it\u2019s true too for the immense love and support expressed by South Africans to breast cancer survivors through the Power of Pink campaign, which annually affirms that we are all stronger together!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Each October, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Pick n Pay stores collaborate with the South African Mushroom Farmers\u2019 Association (SAMFA) \u2013 and the public, of course \u2013 to offer hope and dignity to underprivileged breast cancer survivors in need of reconstructive breast prostheses by raising funds for Reach for Recovery\u2019s (R4R) Ditto Project.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This non-profit uses the proceeds from the yearly Power of Pink campaign \u2013 R1 from each pink punnet of mushrooms sold during October at PnP stores \u2013 to buy individually fitted and colour co-ordinated silicone breast moulds for women who have undergone a life-saving mastectomy but cannot afford breast reconstruction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">This is just one of the services offered by R4R, which is run entirely by volunteers who themselves are breast cancer survivors.<\/span> \u201cIt\u2019s important for breast cancer survivors to share their journey to remind each other that there is hope, that breast cancer is not a death sentence,\u201d explains Nirri Moethilalh, Chairperson of R4R\u2019s Durban branch.<\/p>\n<p>In 2024, this lively band of survivors supported and visited over 6300 breast cancer patients in state hospitals, handing out more than 2882 care bags filled with information and support items, all funded by the Power of Pink campaign.<\/p>\n<p>But most notably, 868 state patients who had mastectomies and no medical aid, have been fitted with prostheses at no cost to them through the Ditto Project. These silicone forms sell for more than R3500 per mould on the open market but are procured by R4R at an average price of R881 per unit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have done more than we thought we could, but we can see how much we still have to do because there are thousands of women in dire circumstances and in desperate need of our support,\u201d notes Stephn\u00e9 Jacobs, R4R National Chairperson.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe experience of witnessing the impact of the Ditto Project, which has been making waves in South Africa since 2011, has been incredible,\u201d she adds. \u201cWe are elated at the ongoing support of the Power of Pink campaign so that many more under-served South African breast cancer survivors can be reached.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is a sentiment mirrored by SAMFA Chairperson, Ross Richardson. \u201cWe are once again encouraged by the work of R4R and the willingness of ordinary South Africans to uplift those among us who don\u2019t have many resources. We thank, in advance, each individual who picks up a pink punnet of mushrooms in October and adds it to their shopping cart. We thank you for your participation and solidarity, for standing alongside breast cancer survivors, and for being stronger together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fresh mushrooms have been linked to lower breast cancer risk for some time. The Beckman Institute at the City of Hope Cancer Center, California, in 2010 indicated that eating 10g of mushrooms per day \u2013 that\u2019s just one button mushroom \u2013 more than halved the risk of developing breast cancer.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, a 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies published in the peer-reviewed ScienceDirect, stated that, \u201cHigher mushroom consumption was associated with lower risk of total cancer. Higher mushroom consumption was also associated with lower risk of breast cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This October we ask you to be inspired by the work of R4R, who are in turn inspired by the words of author Emily Maroutian: \u201cIf you want to know where to find your contribution to the world, look at your wounds. When you learn how to heal them, teach others.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Pink punnets of fresh mushrooms will be on shelf all Pick n Pay stores throughout the month of October. Please buy generously, for your health and for the Power of Pink.<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s something so gratifying, almost magical, about the way mushrooms fruit from mycelium to food heroes in mere weeks. And it\u2019s true too for the immense love and support expressed by South Africans to breast cancer survivors through the Power of Pink campaign, which annually affirms that we are all stronger together! Each October, during&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17055"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17057,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17055\/revisions\/17057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.food-blog.co.za\/joburg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}