Alleyne aid for cancer victim

MARSHA EMMANUEL receiving the donation from Celeste Watson, while Arnold Brathwaite (l) and Dr Dorothy Cooke-Johnson look on. (Sherrylyn A. Toppin)

By Sherrylyn A. Toppin | Sat, December 31, 2011 - 12:04 AM

TWO ALLEYNE SCHOOL alumni groups have joined forces to assist a boy with cancer.

The American and Barbadian chapters of the Alleyne School Through The Years Facebook Group donated a pooled $1 000 they collected through their annual fund-raising walks and raffles.

The donation was made in the lobby of the NATION yesterday by representative of the American chapter, Celeste “Lady Survivor” Watson, and co-ordinator of the local cancer walk, Arnold Brathwaite, to Marsha Emmanuel, whose 11-year-old son Romar is in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital with a Wilms’ tumour, a type of kidney cancer that affects children.

Watson, who spent Christmas in Barbados, said the group wanted to help a child in Barbados this year.

As a cancer survivor, she said this cause was dear to her heart.

“We are very proud to be a part of the fight against cancer since we have all been touched by it in one way or another, either by losing someone to the disease or supporting a survivor, and we will continue to play a part in this ongoing battle,” she said.

Honorary secretary of the Barbados Cancer Society, Dr Dorothy Cooke-Johnson, said they facilitated the meeting between Emmanuel and the Facebook groups as “Romar and Marsha are the most deserving right now of any assistance we can offer”.

Emmanuel, who lives in Spring Hall, St Lucy, said she could not keep working with her son so sick, so the money would go towards paying for his daily upkeep and for transportation to and from the hospital. (CA)