Dolphin Coast community comes together for Nico

The Ballito community have opened their hearts and wallets to support father of four Nico Viljoen in his battle against cancer.

Following his recent diagnosis friends, neighbours, acquaintances and strangers rallied around Nico and his family to help raise much needed funds required for his specialised medical treatment.

“I am humbled by the support and generosity my family and I have received from the whole community,” said Nico addressing friends and family at the fundraiser event held at Katmandu last Friday night.

“I have been so blessed by the outpouring of generosity during this difficult time.

I really appreciate this from the bottom of my heart. There are not enough words to express how I feel about this,” said an emotional Nico.

Also read: Community rallies as Ballito’s Nico Viljoen fights cancer battle

After having a small mole removed from his arm just over a year ago Nico and his family were devastated to learn that at his most recent check-up tests came back positive for Metastatic Malignant Melanoma, or stage four melanoma.

The 46-year-old father who works in Ballito as the group general manager for operations at Ensure Security is pinning his hopes on treating his cancer with a specialised therapy offered at the Sheba Medical Centre in Israel.

Established in 1948, the Sheba Medical Centre is a leading, internationally recognized healthcare facility ranked in the top ten hospitals worldwide.

However, the financial costs and medical expenses that come with this treatment are vast and time and money are not on his side.

Nico’s family, friends, acquaintances and community members have rallied together to help raise the R500 000 required to fund this specialised treatment.

Samara Honeywell who organised the fundraising event said R362 000 of the R500 000 needed has been donated.

Anyone wishing to donate towards the treatment costs can visit the Back-A-Buddy page.

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