Living with cancer can be emotionally and physically taxing not only for the patient, but also for their family members.
This is why a family fun day was organised by Walk on Walk Strong (WOWS) Kids Fiji for more than 10 children living with cancer and their loved ones at the Lautoka Golf Club on Saturday.
The cancer patients and survivors forgot about their reality for a day while spending time with their siblings, parents and guardians.
WOWS Kids Fiji team leader Mere Williams said the annual event was always meant to offer some relief for their patients.
“It is all part of our rehabilitation program for our children,” she said.
“It’s important for them because most of the time they don’t usually get a chance to come out of their daily routine which involves going to treatment in hospitals, taking medications and being at home,” she said.
“This is something we are able to put together for the entire family.
“We try and do this on a quarterly basis and we’ve been trying to do this over the past years, but because of COVID, we were not able to do them consistently.
“We were only able to do one in 2021 and that was in the Central (Division) and this is the first time it’s being done in the West after the lockdowns.”
WOWS Kids Fiji long-time supporter and Mana Island Resort chief operations officer Hiroshi Matsumoto said having the children spend a day with their families was vital to their rehabilitation.
“If we are able to make some of them happy by just having fun out with their family, then we can say we have helped them just a bit,” he said.
“They are already going through a lot so bringing some relief to them is very important.”
