I met Claire Hodgson years ago through my great friend, Justine. A friend of a friend to me, and someone who I’ve stayed connected with through Facebook over the years and a brief catch-up as and when we have seen one another, but acquaintances nonetheless. When chatting with Justine (Juds) last week and checking in with her on how Claire was managing, we found ourselves asking each other what we could do to help Claire. If you are not familiar with Claire’s story, then you can read in more detail here; http://bit.ly/ClaireHFB but in summary, Claire was diagnosed in May this year (2018) with Stage 4 Metastatic Melanoma. Since then she has had 42 tumours surgically removed, had countless scans, infections and infusions. Through all of this Claire has remained gracious, positive, and an ever-increasing strength and belief that she will kick this thing!
Very quickly mine and Justine’s WhatsApp conversation went from ideas which turned into plans. All stemming from a hope that we could help Claire in some small way. Before we knew it we had a date (short 5 days later), a venue, breakfast menu, event coordinator, and more! Donations streamed in from all angles for both prizes and for goodie bag contents, and it is safe to say we were blown away by the kindness of people. I was also contacted by three people offering to take the job as the event speaker. Our minds were blown! Justine and I were constantly swapping messages we were receiving from people who were reaching out to help. The event was sold out in two days, and had we had more time we could have easily doubled the numbers. THAT is how people wanted to show up and love on Claire, a beautiful girl who is showing us all how to live!
Update:
Claire is currently in Israel and meeting with doctors and undergoing more testing. If you are reading this and feel a need to help Claire in her journey then you can donate here: http://bit.ly/helpclairekickcancer and if you can’t give financially right now then supporting Claire through her Facebook page and with your prayers is more than enough, but if you are able to assist financially, helping her afford this treatment can bring her one less stress and she truly can put her focus on healing, rather than how she will afford it, as her medical aid is not helping.
Fundraiser Breakfast Overview:
A massive thank you to these incredible brands, businesses, and people who made the breakfast fundraiser event more impactful than we could have hoped for, you are all a true testament to Ubuntu and togetherness! It was thanks to every one of you that we were able to raise in excess of R30,000 for Claire’s treatment. Thank You!!
– The Digs Kitchen who closed the restaurant to the public for the morning just for us, and put on an incredible spread for 50 hungry ladies
– POSH Events – Natasha Parsons from POSH was just incredible. She contacted us offering her services to provide all the decor for the event. Any request we made she fulfilled and then some, bringing with her more sponsors, like SAS Productions who sponsored the sound equipment and Bheems, who sponsored the champagne glasses.
– Caitlyn de Beer – shared a brilliant message with us all and gave us all a lot to take home with us. Kit is a beautiful public speaker who brings the perfect amount of humour into a message than speaks to everyone, young and old!
– Prize and Goodie bag Sponsors:
SantaFe Collective, Delicious Monsters, Trilogie, Homestead Decor, Rooi Rok Bokkie, Inside Out Boutique, TUWA, Fragrance Boutique, Saint & Summer, Weare Food, Heart Stuff, Bianca Warren, Alive Again, Secret Sunrise, MECC, Hello Darling, Maxine – Lymphoedema, Angie Chan, Candice Rasmussen & Caley Rosenberg
And lastly some in-between pictures of the day and special ladies who joined us:
Thank you again to Caley Rosenberg who captured most of these moments!
If you would like to see all the images and download them please visit my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/These3CallMeMommy/
Update: Sadly Claire Hodgson lost her fight against cancer in 2019. May she rest in peace x
What an amazing event and such a generous group of ladies! Well done Shanny & Juds for organizing and putting it together x
Thank you my friend for taking all the stunning pics and all your contributions, shares and guests you brought xx