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US and Bermuda cancer charities join forces

Relay for Life (Photograph by Akil Simmons)

A US organisation dedicated to fighting cancer is to visit Bermuda to boost a fundraiser to battle the disease.The American Cancer Society will send members of their Global Relay for Life team to Bermuda this week to support the Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre’s Relay for Life event.A BCHC spokeswoman said Lauren Lineweber, the global alliances manager at the ACS and Caitlin Devos, the charity’s cancer action network leader, will meet Bermudian campaigners to offer tips and tools.Azuree Williams, the cochairwoman of the Relay For Life of Bermuda event, said: “They will have the opportunity to meet with sponsors, team captains, vendors, survivors, carers and volunteers; all the people who are Relay For Life and help us fund our mission.”Deborah Titterton Narraway, the chief marketing officer at Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre, added that Relay for Life Bermuda had raised 4.5 million for the charity in the past six years.The cash was used to improve access to cancer prevention programmes, early detection and treatment services provided by the charity.This year’s Relay for Life will be held on May 15 and 16.Ms Titterton-Narraway said: “We are extremely proud to be able to say that our community, the Relay For Life of Bermuda community, was the single largest donor when we built the radiation therapy unit in 2017.“Relay For Life of Bermuda raised and donated $2.2 million towards the then $10 million capital campaign. “Now open for three years, our radiation team have treated 403 residents and visitors to our island, who before would have had to be overseas for weeks at a time to receive treatment or gone without if they could not afford the $40,000 to $100,000 treatment costs.”The ACS representatives will hold a Relay for Life information and training session on Saturday at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.The event, geared towards Relay for Life team participants, will run from 9am to noon and will offer advice on organisation, delegation and fundraising.Anyone interested in attending must register online at www.cancer.bm/events--calendar/events-calendar/acs-relay-for-life-session.