The Samoa Cancer Society has received a cheque worth $34,000 thanks to a fundraiser dedicated to cancer patients and those who have lost their lives to the disease. 

The funds raised were from a mother, daughter, sister fundraiser dinner that was coordinated and sponsored by the Samoa Stationery and Books (S.S.A.B.) and the Samoa International Finance Authority (S.I.F.A.).

The event was one of the Samoa Cancer Society’s last functions for this year's "Pinktober", which is an annual event for individuals and organisations supporting and raising cancer awareness.

A handover ceremony was held on Friday where it was attended by the Vice President of the Samoa Cancer Society, Tauiliili Alise Stunnenberg, Chief Executive Officer of the Samoa Cancer Society, Su'a John Ryan, S.S.A.B. CEO and President, Tofilau Fiti Leung Wai and S.I.F.A. CEO, Tuifaasisina Sieni Tualega-Voorwinden.

In an interview with the Samoa Observer, Su’a thanked Tofilau and Tuifaasisina for putting in the hard work that made the Pinktober dinner.

“I also want to thank everyone that donated on the evening that made it such a great success,” he said.

Su’a said that even guests who did not make monetary contributions still helped the event achieve its goals. 

“It put the awareness campaign to another level," he said. 

He said the funds are much appreciated by the Society which are vital funds they need.

“And this will be used to continue our community engagement work that we are doing, it enables our staff to go out to the community to share information and support services for those that have cancer.

“We thank our partners S.S.A.B. and S.I.F.A but especially to the community at large who have donated so much to the Samoa Cancer Society.

“At the moment, we have 60 active cancer patients on our list but we have over 125 on the full list as well, which involve cancer survivors that have already gone through but we still follow up with them and we still make sure they are okay.”

The Cancer Society CEO added that, with cancer you are never fully cured of it, you might be in remission or it might have died down a little bit but it’s always a chance to come back.

“This is why we keep following up; we make sure they are going to the hospitals and getting regular checkups.”

He added that while they have 60 cancer patients the numbers change because they have a new diagnosis:

“One of the great missions we have to do more work in the community but the unfortunate reality of this is we need funds to do this.

“Awareness is alive and well in the urban center but in our remote villages that may be disconnected from town, we need to be more engaged with them as well, more work at schools and young people and raise awareness on healthy living.”