/ 12 August 2011

Happiness can’t be denied

“We wanted to sing Don’t Worry, Be Happy for you, but Bobby McFerrin said no.”

These are the opening words of a powerful new Sunflower Fund TV ad that aims to raise awareness for their annual National Bandana Day event in October. The public is being encouraged to show their solidarity with cancer patients and their daily struggle against the disease by buying and wearing a Sunflower Fund bandana on October 12. The money raised will go towards the South African Bone Marrow Registry, which finds and matches bone-marrow stem-cell donors with patients who need a transplant.

The children in the TV ad are patients from the Sunflower Ward at the Mediclinic Constantiaberg and Red Cross Children’s Hospital. The original concept behind the ad was to have them sing a happy song to make viewers realise that they were sweating the small stuff while child­ren in life-threatening situations were being positive.

But the fund ran into a problem when it tried to get the rights to use one of the ‘happy” songs. McFerrin (Don’t Worry, Be Happy), the sister of the late Bob Marley (Everything’s Gonna Be Alright) and Eric Idle (Always Look on the Bright Side of Life) either denied their request or ignored it.

And that’s where the inspiration for the TV ad came from. The message hits you at the end — “Don’t ignore us.”

“The advert is incredibly powerful and real. It has always amazed me to see how happy and positive young children and teenagers can be when suffering from leukaemia,” said the Sunflower Fund’s chief executive, Tina Botha, who founded the fund after her son, Chris, lost his struggle against leukaemia.

“It is easy for us to continue with our everyday lives and ignore some of the more unpleasant realities around us, until someone close to us is affected.”

The Sunflower Fund recruits and educates bone-marrow stem-cell donors, who can save the lives of patients suffering from leukaemia and other life-threatening blood disorders. Of them, 75% are under the age of 25. All it takes to get on the registry is two test tubes of blood.

The campaign kicks off on August 15 and runs until National Bandana Day on October 12. Buy your R20 bandana at Pick n Pay or BP Express stores or at your local branch of Round Table and wear it on October 12 to show your solidarity with cancer patients. To become a bone-marrow donor, phone 0800 12 10 82 to register, or visit www.sunflowerfund.org.za to find out more