“I am so grateful they gave Kassandra three days of happiness. It was a treat for her I could never give on my own,” a grandmother of a Suntown Camp participant said yesterday.

Scholastica Sayson, 60, was among the parents and guardians who attended the graduation yesterday of children living with cancer who joined the three-day Suntown Camp at Maryshore in Talisay City .

Sayson, the aunt of the mother of 9-year-old Kassandra Dampitan, has been under going treatment for breast cancer for two years now.

She is the person who took Kassandra into her care when the little girl's family fell apart when she was four.

Kassandra's mother, Kelly Ann, is a sidewalk vendor in Alabang, and could not afford to take care of Kassandra and her younger brother after her husband sold their house and was eventually jailed.

Sayson said Kassandra's father Nestor Dampitan of Rosario, Cavite , was a drug addict and he killed her older brother who was unable to walk and speak from birth by drowning him in a canal.

“So I went to Manila to get Kassandra to give her a home here in Negros ,” Sayson said.

But two years ago I was hit with cancer and I was so worried that if something happened to me no one would be there to care for Kassandra, she said.

So I prayed hard for God to let me live longer for Kassandra's sake, Sayson said.

Kassandra has had a tough life but she is popular in school because she is a jolly person and she sings and dances, too, her grandmother said.

Sayson said because she has to get up early in the morning to sell brooms to make a living and comes home late, she barely has time to do things with Kassandra.

The camp has provided Kassandra with something she has not experienced before and I am very happy, Sayson said.

Also at the graduation was the mother of Jelly Ann Agudo who turned 17 yesterday. Melinda Agudo, 43, who is from Bago City has breast cancer but does not have the means to pay for her medical needs.

Yesterday Suntown volunteers surprised Jelly Ann with a birthday cake. The teenager said she was very happy because it was the first time she had ever had a cake.

And all the camp participants went home with gift bags.

Dr. Marvie Abesamis, co-camp director, said Suntown was an opportunity for all those who volunteered to share of one's self so that other's may become whole.

Dr. Estrella “Yanky” Agustin, an assistant camp director and a volunteer from Manila , lauded the community-sense of the Negrenses who helped make the camp a success.

Millie Kilayko, camp co-director, said Suntown Camp 1 was just the beginning of more camps to be held for children afflicted with cancer or with parents who have cancer.*CPG

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