Daffodil Day Rotorua: Anita Delzoppo has volunteered at Rotorua Cancer Society for six years after suffering with breast cancer.
Anita Delzoppo has twice survived breast cancer and hopes others will learn from her experience.
“I’d shout it from the rooftop, have a mammogram!” the 83-year-old tells the Rotorua Daily Post.
Delzoppo is sharing her story ahead of Daffodil Day this Friday.
Donations raised on Daffodil Day support the more than 25,000 New Zealanders who will be diagnosed with cancer this year.
In 2011, Delzoppo was diagnosed with stage two cancer in her right breast after a routine mammogram check. Two years later, another routine check discovered cancer in her left breast.
The Cancer Society has 1857 guests visit the lodge last year and patients were supported by care nurses. Some of the funds raised on Daffodil Day would go towards the upkeep of the lodge and paying the care nurses.
Delzoppo said her cancer journey was a reminder for women over the age of 45 to get routine mammogram screenings. Her first mammogram was in 1999 and she had been visiting her local Rotorua clinic for 24 years.
Mammogram screenings are free in New Zealand for women aged 45 to 69 and are recommended every second year.
Anita Delzoppo has volunteered at Rotorua Cancer Society for six years after suffering with breast cancer. Photo / Andrew Warner
Delzoppo would be volunteering for the seventh time this Daffodil Day, selling flowers and collecting donations.
She said fresh daffodils were her favourite.
The flower symbolised happiness and was a “pretty colour”.
“I just think they’re lovely.”
Delzoppo would be selling daffodil broaches and fresh daffodils at the Rotorua Westbrook Netball Courts between 10am to 12pm on Saturday.
She understood money was “short at the best of times” but said the Rotorua community had been generous in previous years.
“The public is just absolutely incredible, very generous, very thoughtful. It’s really beautiful.
“I’m really looking forward to this weekend because of Daffodil Day.”
Cancer Society Bay of Plenty and Waikato chief executive Helen Carter said they hoped to raise more than $1 million nationwide.
Carter said funds raised would help provide support services for people with cancer, fund research and deliver health promotion programmes.
She said New Zealand had one of the highest age-standardised rates of cancer diagnosis in the world, with 423 diagnoses per 100,000 people.
“As more and more Kiwis are diagnosed with cancer, the demand for Cancer Society services also increases,” she said.
Carter said during the previous financial year, the foundation helped 1006 new patients, their supportive care nurses helped 9442 patients, drove 79,733 kilometres taking clients to and from treatments, as well as the 1857 guests who stayed at the Cancer Society’s Lions Lodge.
“The money raised through Daffodil Day activities helps make all this possible,” Carter said.
Donations can be made at any ANZ branch during August, online at daffodilday.org.nz, to businesses with counter collections, or to street collectors on Friday and Saturday.
Waikato/Bay of Plenty Cancer Society by the numbers
12,000 - Nights’ accommodation at the Cancer Society’s Lions Lodge for cancer patients travelling long distances for treatment.
1857 - Guests welcomed at Cancer Society’s Lions Lodge.
34,035 - The number of meals served at the Cancer Society’s Lions Lodge.
