“We wish Alana every success with this new chapter in her life and that of The Sunflower Fund. Collectively, we have the utmost confidence that she will lead the organisation to even greater heights,”, says chairperson Dr Dan Ncayiyana.

James joined The Sunflower Fund in September with a wealth of experience from a career spanning over 14 years in the corporate and NGO sectors across South Africa and Africa. She has a strong international network and offers global experience spanning across multiple industries such as the Telecommunications, Health Club and Education Sectors.

She ran her own business for the past four years as a strategy consultant and currently is currently non-executive director on the board of the Cape Chamber of Commerce and deputy chair of Northlink FET College Council.

“I am so excited to be joining this amazing organisation which is solid and successful, and has a well-established and exciting brand,” said James. “I am looking forward to taking it that step further and to growing awareness of what we stand for into all of South Africa’s communities and ethnic groups.”

James’ primary aim is to continue to grow the strength of The Sunflower Fund brand and to develop the understanding of all South Africans regarding the organisation’s cause to grow the number of people on the database of the South Africa Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) through the recruitment of new donors and providing access to tissue type testing.

A patient searches for a match from their own ethnic group as bone marrow donor needs to be a genetic or DNA match and not a blood group match. With the odds of patients finding a match being 1:100 000, it is imperative that The Sunflower Fund grows this database in order to offer hope for these patients.

This is a living registry and The Fund recruits new healthy donors daily while other donors come off the registry due to age or health issues. “We shall continue to give patients diagnosed with leukaemia and other life-threatening blood disorders, an opportunity to find their life-saving donor match” added James.

Should you wish to become a donor, support one of the fundraising projects or make a financial contribution, please contact The Sunflower Fund on Toll-Free Number 0800 12 10 82.

For more information, visit www.sunflowerfund.org.za. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook or on Twitter.