Passionate mum shows cancer what she really thinks

TANIA Pradun was only 20-years-old when her beloved father was diagnosed with cancer. Little did she know, his shock diagnosis would be the beginning of the devastating and irreparable damage cancer would leave on her tightknit family.

Tania Pradun for The Longest Table

TANIA Pradun was only 20-years-old when her beloved father was diagnosed with cancer. Little did she know, his shock diagnosis would be the beginning of the devastating and irreparable damage cancer would leave on her tightknit family.

Throat cancer took the life of Tania’s father at the young age of 44-years-old. “Cancer has been an active and vicious part of our family for as long as I can remember,” Tania says. “I was the first person in my group of friends that lost a parent and it was difficult to cope with, but I thought it was just a sad and unfortunate one-off.”  

Sadly cancer wasn’t finished with Tania’s family, it was just getting started. “My Oma was next to succumb, but not without a colossal battle. She died from multiple myeloma. I was at her bedside as she took her last breath. It was equally my most precious experience and the most devastating.”

Faced with the devastation of losing her cherished Oma, Tania then lost two of her uncles and father-in-law to the heartbreaking disease.

“My uncle Arthur died the day before I went into labour with my youngest son. Pancreatic cancer had eaten him away and his loss hit our family hard,” Tania adds.  “Next up was my father-in-law. Mucosal Melanoma was the name of his executioner and by now the hatred I have for cancer had intensified like a white-hot, internal fury.

“Then my Uncle Marcel. His liver was riddled with cancer before it metastasised to his lungs. We all said our goodbyes at his hospital bed but I’m not sure that he even knew we were there.”

Now a mother of two precious boys, Tania is ready to fight back against the disease that has taken her loved ones from her too soon. This year, as she has done for four years prior, Tania will be taking part in The Longest Table, the annual cancer fundraiser of The Hospital Research Foundation.

She’ll be gathering her family and friends together for a night of food, fun, friendship and fundraising to raise funds for lifesaving cancer research. It may be too late for her loved ones, but she’ll stop at nothing to see a future free of cancer for her sons.

“Imagine a future where my children can say to their children ‘When I was a boy, cancer was almost an epidemic. We lost many people in our family to that horrific disease but thanks to people like your Oma raising money to help fund vital research, it’s now a preventable and treatable illness that you kids don’t need to worry about.

“Cancer can never be accused of being exclusive. Everyone is up for grabs. That’s why I’m committed to raising funds to fight it.”

You can help Tania feed hope and fight cancer, the disease that has torn her family apart. It’s simple. Sign up to become a Longest Table host, get your friends together and host a dinner to raise funds for lifesaving cancer research. You can host your dinner anytime until the end of July, or host on this year’s official night of Saturday July 21.

Originally published as Passionate mum shows cancer what she really thinks