World Cancer Day – United by Unique
United in our Goals, Unique in our Stories
Celebrating World Cancer Day 2025
The 4th of February is probably the most important day in the global cancer awareness calendar. Since 2022, Icon Oncology has marked Word Cancer Day with our patients across all our units in the country. Driven by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) World Cancer Day, is observed to raise awareness about cancer, encourage its prevention, and mobilise action.
This year we shared our personal stories – to remind ourselves, and the world – that while cancer has touched all of our lives, we are more than a disease; more than a diagnosis.
The 2025 – 2027 themed ‘United by Unique’ campaign asks that we place people at the centre of cancer care. Something that has underpinned the Icon Oncology business since its inception. Because cancer is more than a medical diagnosis – it’s a deeply personal matter impacting all aspects of a person’s life.
Sharing Unique Stories
The campaign encourages us all to look beyond the cancer diagnosis and really see the person fighting the disease.
The Icon 2025 campaign shared our own personal stories, as well as the stories of our patients, and encouraged our wider community to do the same. All with the goal of placing people at the centre of the conversation around cancer care.
We had the privilege to share seven different stories during the month, ranging from patients and their personal cancer journeys to team members expressing their motivations behind becoming an integral part of those journeys.
Like Dr Sudeshen Naidoo, an Oncologist who lost both his Aunt and Father to cancer. Following these experiences, Dr Naidoo made it his mission to bring oncologists together, to close the care gap and provide better access to treatment and support for patients and their families. The outcome was the Johnson Rose Cancer Foundation, named for his aunt and father, which is determined to provide access to care for uninsured families in South Africa.
Another inspiring story is that of Dr Johann Riedemann, a Clinical Radiation and Molecular Oncologist, with extensive experience in paediatric, adolescent and young adult oncology. He has dedicated his life to this specialist field, because he knows that young people living with cancer require a unique approach in their treatment. To do this, Dr Riedemann united with Icon Oncology and Cancercare, to establish Crayon, a specialist Paediatric, Adolescent and Young Adult oncology unit. Based in the Cape Metropole, the Crayon Unit ensures that more children have access to specialist cancer treatment and supporting services.
Beyond doctors, our incredible employees and patients reached out to share their stories too.
Susan Els, a radiation therapist and integral part of the Icon Oncology team shared her touching personal journey. Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 and received chemotherapy, a radical course of radiotherapy, and hormonal therapy. Being a cancer survivor and an RT is a powerful combination, as Susan treats patients from a place of deep understanding, compassion and empathy.
“24 years later I am celebrating a healthy life. I am still working and appreciating every day. I saw my kids grow up, get married and I am now dearly enjoying my grandchildren. For me, cancer was not a death sentence but a second chance!”
These are the stories we at Icon Oncology live through everyday, and we are proud to have been part of sharing those stories on a wider stage.
Looking Forward
While this year is just the beginning of the United by Unique campaign, it is the next step in our commitment to continue raising awareness about people-first cancer care. By 2027 we hope to see a world where patient-centric care is the norm all over the world, as it is here at Icon Oncology.
We pledge to continue sharing stories as the year continues, because we know that centering a patient must happen every day and across every step of their journey.
Thank you for celebrating World Cancer Day 2025 with us.
