By Casey Neill
DAMIEN Comport and the Lymphomaniacs are raising cash for blood cancer and need support.
The Montrose 21-year-old hopes to collect $1000 in sponsorship for taking part in the Leukaemia Foundation’s Light the Night walk.
His sister Riaane, 27, was diagnosed with lymphoma earlier this year.
“I came home from work one day and my sister had called my dad and told him the news,” Mr Comport said.
“I got home and he was in tears, he couldn’t even tell me.”
“Since then our family, our whole household’s been trying to get into anything to do with raising money for cancer.”
Ms Comport’s sister formed the Lymphomaniacs to participate in Light the Night. “She got me to join the group and I’ve been fundraising as much as I can,” Mr Comport said.
“Before she went through everything, I didn’t really take too much notice of cancer stuff.”
Ms Comport has just received one of her final doses of chemotherapy and doctors believe she’s on the path to remission.
“She’s just got to keep going in for check-ups now to see it’s not coming back,” Mr Comport said.
“When I was really young, my uncle died of cancer so it was a big thing in my family for everybody else, but being the youngest I don’t remember it.”
“I’d donate to charities here and there when someone walked up on the street, but I didn’t really know too much and it didn’t really affect me at all.”
“Since that’s happened, I’m trying to get into it as much as I can and get other people to actually realise and try to donate as well.”
Mr Comport and other participants will gather at Melbourne’s Treasury Gardens at sunset on Wednesday 15 September and place a tiny light inside their balloon. They’ll light a gold balloon to remember a loved one lost, a white balloon to celebrate being a blood cancer survivor, and a blue balloon to give hope and show support.
The evening will feature entertainment, food stalls and inspirational stories.
Every hour someone in Australia is diagnosed with leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma. Every two hours, someone loses their life to these blood cancers.
Light the Night this year aims to raise more than $2 million for research and to improve the quality of life for patients and their families.
Readers can visit www.lightthenight .org.au to sponsor Mr Comport and the Lymphomaniacs or call 1800 500 088 for more information.
