Kiwanis charity golf tourney tees of Nov 15
The Kiwanis Club of New Kingston (KCNK) will be having its 16th annual Charity Golf Tournament on Sunday, November 15, 2015, aiming to raise funds for children with cancer at the prestigious Caymanas Golf and Country Club.
The theme for the tournament is “Swing for Life-Follow through for Kids with Cancer”. Proceeds from the golf tournament will be used for the Kiwanis Club’s charities, with a portion of the revenue going towards funding their major cancer project for the year.
The KCNK will be partnering with the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) to help source an Ambulatory Infusion Pump which will enable chemotherapy treatment for kids with cancer.
Donations will also be used to refurbish an area at the UHWI to accommodate parents whose children are suffering from cancer and undergoing treatment at the hospital.
During the last four years, the UHWI has seen some seven to 15 new cases of children with cancer. For this year, to date, there have been five new cases: a lymphoma, relapsed leukaemia, rhabdomyosarcoma, colon cancer, and osteosarcoma. In 2014, there were seven cases of leukaemia (five lymphoblastic, two myeloid), two lymphomas, two rhabdomyosarcomas, three gliomas (brain tumours), and one osteosarcoma.
The average length of stay of these patients varies according to the underlying malignancy — acute lymphoblastic leukemias will stay on average two to three months at the start; myeloid leukemias spend the entire six months as in-patients.
Those with solid tumours tend to come for a course of chemotherapy every three weeks and may spend three to five days at a time. Neutropenia (low white cell count) is often an issue once chemotherapy has started; requiring admission for fevers — generally a week.
The age group of these children is generally two to 10 years, but there are also a few teenagers, with the hospital having an age limit of up to 15 years of age.
This year’s tournament will be an 18-hole Stableford tournament, with a shotgun start at 8:30 am. The annual charity golf tournament has become a major event on the Jamaica Golf Association’s calendar and will, once again, feature David Mais as the tournament director.
