Running for Care: Promise House T&T launches 5K for paediatric cancer and hospice support

Cherisse Moe

Promise House TT is bring­ing its mis­sion to the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah on May 23 with its first-ever 5K run and walk. The event aims to raise aware­ness of pae­di­atric can­cer and hos­pice care, un­der what its lead­er­ship de­scribes as an “ecosys­tem of love” for the coun­try’s most vul­ner­a­ble cit­i­zens. While mem­bers of the pub­lic can reg­is­ter for the run or walk to com­pete for prizes, the event al­so serves as an in­vi­ta­tion for in­di­vid­u­als to sim­ply show up and sup­port the cause.

The San­ta Cruz-based fa­cil­i­ty fo­cus­es on three dis­tinct arms: the House, a free fa­cil­i­ty for chil­dren with can­cer or chron­ic dis­eases; the Hos­pice, a com­pli­men­ta­ry unit for ter­mi­nal­ly ill adult can­cer pa­tients; and the Haven, a sus­tain­able-cost res­i­dence for the el­der­ly.

The need for spe­cialised pal­lia­tive sup­port is un­der­scored by lo­cal health trends, where non-com­mu­ni­ca­ble dis­eases ac­count for over 60 per cent of all deaths, with can­cer among the lead­ing caus­es. Glob­al da­ta from the World Health Or­gan­i­sa­tion al­so notes that on­ly about 14 per cent of peo­ple who re­quire end-of-life care cur­rent­ly re­ceive it. Promise House TT aims to bridge this gap by of­fer­ing dig­ni­ty and com­pas­sion at no cost to can­cer pa­tients and their fam­i­lies.

“This run/walk 5K is in ho­n­our of every life touched by our Home, Hos­pice and Haven,” says Dr Jacque­line Sab­ga, med­ical doc­tor and chair­woman of the Promise House TT team.

“We are launch­ing now in an at­tempt to raise aware­ness of this re­mark­able project and to en­cour­age com­mu­ni­ty and a cel­e­bra­tion of life. We are all so pas­sion­ate that in all stages of life we must cel­e­brate the in­di­vid­ual.”

While the event serves as a fundrais­er for the House and Hos­pice, she adds that vol­un­teer­ing re­mains just as im­por­tant as fi­nan­cial sup­port.

“This brings mo­ments of joy to the pop­u­la­tions that we care for,” Dr Sab­ga notes, adding that the team of­ten hosts small “cel­e­bra­tions of life” that en­cour­age laugh­ter and singing.

Board mem­ber He­le­na Sab­ga points out that the site ex­ists large­ly be­cause of that com­mu­ni­ty sup­port. “We love vol­un­teers. All three of our build­ings came in­to ex­is­tence with large help from vol­un­teers from all over the coun­try—schools, in­di­vid­u­als, cor­po­ra­tions and sport or­gan­i­sa­tions,” she says.

“We saw the most in­cred­i­ble out­pour­ing of love and kind­ness in help­ing us bring this to its cur­rent state.”

Promise House TT boasts an all-fe­male board, in­clud­ing Dr Jacque­line Sab­ga, He­le­na Sab­ga, Cherise Stauble, Te­nille Main­got and Chris­tine Sab­ga.

Re­flect­ing on the team’s dy­nam­ic, Dr Sab­ga says she stands on the shoul­ders of gi­ants.

“We have be­come more than just a board; we are sis­ters. The pos­si­bil­i­ties are end­less when the heart is pure and filled with pas­sion and dri­ve.”

The race will as­sem­ble across from TGI Fri­days, Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah West, at 4 pm. Or­gan­is­ers are aim­ing for a fes­tive at­mos­phere where spec­ta­tors can join par­tic­i­pants to “cel­e­brate life” and ho­n­our those who re­main “as leg­ends in our hearts.”

Reg­is­tra­tion is be­ing han­dled through the Race Ros­ter plat­form in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Car­o­line Moses and han­dL Con­sult­ing. For those in­ter­est­ed in vol­un­teer­ing for pa­tient care or site main­te­nance, the Promise House TT line, 251-3786, is avail­able.

As He­le­na Sab­ga says, the team feels priv­i­leged to stand with pa­tients and fam­i­lies through every stage of life—a sen­ti­ment that sits at the heart of the event.