National Sunflower Day in South Africa

Sunflowers track the sun. Each sunflower is actually thousands of teeny flowers. Each sunflower can contain as many as 1,000 to 2,000 seeds. Sunflowers are native to North America. There are about 70 species of sunflowers.

Sunflower is the third largest grain crop produced in South Africa after maize and wheat. Over the past ten years production amounted to 700 000 tons on average, while the gross value is approximated at 1 million tons.

Sunflower Day, held on the third Friday in September, is dedicated to rallying support for people diagnosed with life-threatening blood diseases such as leukemia.

The chances of finding this match are 1:100 000 and the best chance of a matched donor is within your own ethnic background. There is only a 25 per cent chance that a sibling will be a match so the remaining 75 per cent of patients rely on an unrelated matched donor being found. It is therefore important that people of all races register as donors, especially in South Africa, so that all patients have the opportunity of finding a life-saving donor.