From left: Members of the fundraising committee, Shelley Shepherd, Ronald Gittens and Nick Harrison (far right), Sonia O’Neal, Administrative Director of the Barbados Cancer Society (second right) and daughter of the deceased, Sharon Thomas (third right) look on as widower, Hazel Thomas presents a cheque to President of the Barbados Cancer Society, Dr. Dorothy Cooke-Johnson (centre) yesterday.
The family of the late Bruce Anthony “Tony” Thomas donated an incredibly generous cheque of BDS$20 000 to the Barbados Cancer Society yesterday morning.
During the small ceremony that took place at the Barbados Cancer Society’s headquarters, daughter of the deceased, Sharon Thomas, expressed to the media that the money was donated to help the Barbados Cancer Society and its work against prostate cancer through education and awareness for early detection, as well as give assistance to those who need support during their illness.
“My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and we were doing a medical fundraiser earlier this year. I felt in my heart to donate to the Barbados Cancer Society because it was something that my dad would have done, if he were alive, since he was always donating to charities,” she said.
Thomas expressed that she plans to continue working with the Barbados Cancer Society. “We’re actually hoping to open a Tony Thomas Cancer Fund, as it’s something that I would like to continue doing, such as little fundraisers to bring awareness to cancer for men,” she said.
President of the Barbados Cancer Society, Dr. Dorothy Cooke-Johnson sincerely thanked the Thomas’ for their donation and noted that it was an enormous help to the Barbados Cancer Society.
“Tony was a leader; he was into everything and he was enormously efficient, so it is his legacy that is going to drive this and the memory of Tony is going to get things done. He was so well-known, so genial; so very pleasantly admired that you only have to say his name – that people will understand, that if he stood for this – it’s worthwhile standing for,” she said.
Cooke-Johnson went on to note that since they began having Saturday clinics as well as two free clinics on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Society was generally getting more men taking the tests instead of shying away from discussing topics such as frequent prostate checks. She added that she believed it was important that the sharing of experiences and the clinics low prices bring out more men to have these tests.
“I’m advising them [men] to start at 40 and every single year after that to get tested. It’s far better to get a test that’s negative than to get one too late – that’s positive, so we want to get that message out, and Tony’s presence, even though he’s gone, his memory will help tremendously,” she said.