Media Personality Luzoko Koti’s legacy will be honoured with a Leukemia awareness campaign, which starts on Saturday.
Koti passed on this year, on Human Rights Day, from the disease. On Friday, September 30, he would have turned 48.
In memorium of his life and giving people living with leukemia renewed hope, the Koti family partnered with DKMS Africa – an organization dedicated to the fight against blood cancer and blood disorders.
The family said they want to spread the word and education about building awareness around stem cell donation related challenges.
Globally, there is a huge underrepresentation on the registry of donors for Black, Coloured, Indian and Asian blood cancer patients – this means patients from these ethnic groups only have a 19% chance of finding a donor and a mere 25% chance of finding a related match.
According to DKMS Africa, every 72 minutes a South African is diagnosed with blood cancer or a related disorder. To exacerbate this, only 0,04% of South Africans registered as blood stem cell donors.
Luzuko was a reputable, well-known communicator, and the campaign was named after his middle name Sabelo.
Sabelo is a Nguni noun meaning share or a portion which the family said captured who Koti was.
“A selfless person who abundantly shared his life with those he interacted with, generously allocating them his time. The campaign intends to carry on the torch that Luzuko had left. We are in support of this donor drive. Luzuko left us early, but our memories of him remain indelible. We are partaking in this donor drive because we believe more can be done for those battling leukemia – they do not need to be alone. There is support that they can count on. Indeed, this is iSabelo sobomi, a true share of life,” said Koti family representative Thando Koti-Kapoock.
One of Luzuko’s favourite expressions was: “it is never enough just to state the problem. Taking action to change the part of your country is the highest form of patriotism.”
DKMS Interim Country Manager, Palesa Mokomele said: “It’s through such campaigns that we get to see the beauty of humanity. We get to see people asking, how can I help? What role can I play? Hence, we are encouraging those aged between 18 to 55 to register via our website and join the global registry.”
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