Why the Zoe-Lee Foundation was set up.
The charity was set up in memory of Zoe-Lee Petersen who lost her battle against leukaemia at the tender age of 23 months in November 2005 in Cape Town, South Africa. Our aim is to provide practical assistance to children suffering from this devastating childhood disease and their families in Cape Town.
Children with Leukaemia in South Africa
The Red Cross Children's Hospital in Cape Town, is the only dedicated children's hospital south of the Sahara and treats 250 000 children each year from throughout Africa. The Oncology Unit is the leading referral centre for children with cancer and blood disease in the Western Cape, and one of the foremost in Southern Africa.
To receive treatment, many children have to stay in the hospital for long periods of time. Those receiving radiotherapy may have to travel up to several hours each day for treatment.
Accomodation is very limited around the hospital so not all family members are able to travel to the hospital to be with the child undergoing treatment and families are being separated at a time when they need to be together.
The Zoe-Lee Foundation is fundraising to provide a house close the hospital where families can stay while their children undergo treatment.
Establishing this "Home from Home" will mean parents no longer need to worry about being separated from their other children or about travelling a long way with their ill child.
Moira Stenton, aunt of Zoe-Lee ran the London Marathon in April 2006 and organised a successful fundraising ceilidh in Aberdeen for 'Children with Leukaemia'.
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