First of two Choc Lodges opens in the Eastern Cape

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

The first of two Choc Lodges in the Eastern Cape officially opened its doors at Dora Nginza Hospital in Port Elizabeth.

On Thursday, the Childhood Cancer Foundation of South Africa, will open its second so-called Choc Lodge in East London.

The Choc Lodge offers accommodation to the parents of young children who often have to travel from out of town to the bigger centres to receive cancer treatment for their children.

According to the CEO of Choc South Africa, Francois Peenz, the children's mothers will now be able to stay close to their children who have to spend several months receiving cancer treatment.

"These facilities look after children and their parents that go through a cancer treatment. It entails long travelling out of home, away from other siblings, away from other family members. This is why we need a lodge for these people to sleep over through this treatment process. It will now happen in the Eastern Cape from next year. " says Peenz

Meanwhile, Algoa FM managing director, Dave Tiltmann, announced that the Choc Lodge will be beneficiary of the 2013 Discovery Algoa FM Big Walk, for the second year in a row.

The Big Walk takes place on the 26th of October at NMMU Cricket Fields in Summerstrand.

PE Choc Manager, Charmaine Vosloo, says the opening of the lodge was a dream come true for her and her team.

She was also grateful for the support from the corporate sector as well.

"Without team work and support I would not be here. It's a great honour to be able to say we can accomodate short term cancer, because as we know the need is growing unfortunately day by day. If I had a dream it would be to open up more wards." says Vosloo