Cycle tour backs children’s foundation

SOUTH Africa’s premier road cycling tour, the Takealot Tour of Good Hope road race, will use its status to raise awareness of young children suffering from rare and life-threatening diseases.

The race, which will take place from March 4 to 8 in the Cape Winelands, will be backing the Olive Children’s Foundation.

The UCI (cycling’s governing body) status that the event has received for the first time has resulted in increased interest from cyclists, both locally and abroad.

The foundation, established in 2017, was named after a young girl who was 6 weeks old when she had near-fatal heart problems due to anaemia caused by a rare genetic disorder, Diamond-Blackfan Anaemia (DBA).

DBA resulted in bone marrow failure, early onset cancers and congenital abnormalities, which necessitated her receiving regular blood transfusions and medical treatment.

“Today, at 2 years old, Olive has had 26 blood transfusions and spent more than 137 days in hospital – a large portion of her little life,” said foundation advertising and public relations manager Megan Schumann.

She said the foundation had three main goals: “One is to create a space for doctors to research and learn about incredibly rare conditions such as DBA. The second is to establish a registry across Africa to enable relief of the diagnosis and treatment costs, and uncertainty for the families of affected children. And thirdly we want to create an outpatient infusion clinic for children requiring regular blood transfusions and chronic IV therapies.”

Schumann said there were a number of ways cyclists could support the foundation.

“At the end of the tour, there will be blood donation stations for supporters and riders to register and even donate blood if they are up to it.”

ASG Events chief executive Erick Oosthuizen said: “Supporting a charity was a key element of the whole operation. Since its founding in 2006, ASG Sports Solutions has been as passionate about development as it is about cycling.”