From Patients to Graduates: KIDZCAN Survivor’s Day Shows Life After Childhood Cancer in Zimbabwe

By Ross Moyo
40+ childhood cancer survivors celebrated 5+ years cancer-free at KIDZCAN’s Survivor’s Day Saturday at Rainbow Children’s Village in Harare. Cancer fighters converged to honor survivors and inspire others with the message “you can be anybody” through testimonies, family support, and corporate-backed festivities led by KIDZCAN’s Daniel Mackenzie.

“We’re very blessed to have invited just under 40 of our survivors from in and around Harare,” said Executive Director Daniel Mackenzie. “These are all survivors who have gone past 5 years being cancer-free.” A similar celebration was held in Bulawayo weeks earlier.

The day was for them. “It is your day,” Mackenzie told survivors. “Now that you’ve survived, pursue your dreams. Be whoever you want to be.” The proof was in the room: survivors who are now graduates, social workers, and KIDZCAN volunteers.

“I was just touched by the different stories that we’ve heard here today, where some have even graduated, some are social workers, some are even supporting us here as volunteers at KIDZCAN,” Mackenzie said.

But he also urged gratitude. “Don’t forget those that have supported you throughout your journey… Your parents, your brothers, your sisters, and even KIDZCAN itself, the doctors and the nurses. Be grateful and remember them.”

The bigger mission: 60% survival by 2030. “In Zimbabwe, we want to reach that 60% survival rate, which is part of the WHO Global Initiative,” Mackenzie said. “And here we are in Zimbabwe saying that, yes, we can survive, we can treat cancer.”

His core message to families: “Early detection is the best protection. Every child who presents early has that opportunity to conquer and survive cancer.”

The event was backed by corporates. West Prop gave hampers. Simbisa Brands provided lunch. “When you want to go far, you go with others,” Mackenzie said. “No man is an island.”

And there was joy. “When someone survives cancer, they can conquer and become anybody,” Mackenzie said. “So today was about celebrating with them.” For Zimbabwe’s survivors, it was a reminder: cancer was a chapter, not the whole story.