If you’ve not yet booked your seat for the fifth annual mum’s m@il High Tea in association with The Sunflower Fund, then do not delay, as more than half of the 420 tickets have already been sold!

The South African Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) is in desperate need of donors from all ethnic groups and mixed ethnic backgrounds. Regrettably, the SAMBR does not receive any government funding towards the cost of tissue typing the blood samples and exists solely on donations from the public. Without financial support the work of the SABMR would come to a complete halt and bone marrow transplantation would no longer be a treatment option in South Africa.

This is why The Sunflower Fund (Friends of the South African Bone Marrow Registry) was formed in 1999. The Sunflower Fund is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation, with a vision to give all South Africans diagnosed with leukaemia and other life-threatening blood disorders the chance of life, irrespective of their race and financial circumstances.

So far The Sunflower Fund has increased the donor numbers on the SABMR from a mere 1,200 in 1999 to over 64,500 today! Also, since April 2003 to date, The Sunflower Fund spent just over R4 million on tissue typing throughout South Africa. This is a wonderful achievement, yet more needs to be done. Due to the 1:100 000 chance of finding a compatible donor, at least 100 000 donors are needed for a Registry to function effectively and in South Africa, the Registry should ideally have 400 000 donors representative of all ethnic groups.

And this is exactly why we have chosen The Sunflower Fund as the beneficiary of our annual event on Friday the 3rd of September for the second year running. See page 14 in the magazine for more information on how to book for our Pink Princess event on Friday 3 September.