Full house packs Emma’s theatre fundraiser

A full house of more than 450 well-wishers packed the Barnyard Theatre on Wednesday night, 29 October to raise funds for 20-month-old Toti cancer sufferer, Emma de Vries.

“The atmosphere was fantastic,” said the spokesman for Emma’s fundraising committee, Anton Kieck.

“Emma’s mother, Tanya was so emotional by the response of the public, but it boosted her.

About 80% of the crowd was from Toti, with others travelling from as far as Pietermaritzburg to enjoy the evening.”

Unfortunately Tanya had to rush back to eThekwini Hospital and Heart Centre after the show, where Emma has been in ICU for the past three weeks, following a second brain operation to remove some of the tumour.

On Friday a drain was put in, but after being hit with infections and a bout of meningitis, Emma has to overcome this before a shunt can be inserted.

A moving and inspirational painting of an older, disease-free Emma was revealed at the show last week, painted by talented Toti artist Stefan Hofmeyr.

The painting, aptly titled ‘Our Dream for Emma’ shows a teenage girl dancing on a beach, and will be on auction online over the month of November.

“In the painting Emma has long, flowing hair and she is enjoying the outdoors, having beaten cancer,” said Stefan, who created the masterpiece in a week and managed to finish a day before the show.

Within hours of the painting being revealed, there were close to 2,500 hits on the Facebook page ‘Emma’s Dream’ and bids from a number of interested parties were received, including from the UK and Abu Dhabi.

“There are plans to display the painting at Readers Rest in Seadoone Mall and in Galleria over the next few weeks,” said Anton.

Bids can be posted on Emma’s Facebook page or, if the bidder wishes to remain anonymous, email anton@bigskymarketing.co.za.

Anton also hopes to print a limited edition of autographed prints which will be available for sale. For more information, contact him on 083-637-1334