Dubbo resident Prashiela Shandil is turning her grief into something positive by taking part in Dry July after the death of her friend, Amy.
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The Dubbo dental hygienist, has lived in the city for about five years and wanted to do something in memory of Amy, who sadly passed away recently from ovarian cancer.
"It's helping me. I feel like because I'm doing something I'm turning my grief into something else. Otherwise I'd just be in a ball of despair," Ms Shandil explained.
She has already smashed her initial target of $500, by raising a whopping $1200, but hopes to raise even more the charity that helped her friend so much.
"I wasn't expected to even reach $500 because of what is going on with COVID-19... but I wanted still wanted to do it (the fundraiser) because I didn't know what else to do," Ms Shandil explained.
Amy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer about two years ago at the age of 33. She then had a hysterectomy and went into remission.
But her rare form of cancer, which kept mutating, had spread to her skin and all of her bones, so she underwent chemotherapy again.
Sadly, Amy passed away at the age of 35 on Sunday, May 31.
"It (fundraising) was really important for Amy as well because she was a young woman who became the face of Dry July before she passed away... she found such comfort in the sisterhood with the Ovarian Cancer support groups," Ms Shandil explained.
"When Amy passed away she asked for no funeral and for the money that would have been spent on her funeral to go towards Ovarian Cancer, because everything they did for her really helped."
Amy was a vegan for about 15 years before she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, which prompted Ms Shandil to not only abstain from drinking, but also from eating animal products for the 31 days.
"My friends and I are really into fitness and we're going to do a workout where we all have to wear our teal underwear over our workout pants and bake protein balls and have people donate a gold coin or up to $5," she added.
The workout fundraiser is open for anyone to attend and will be held on Saturday, July 11 starting from about 10am at Jubilee Oval.
Ms Shandil said she has received so much support from the Dubbo community already.
"I'm just blown away by people's generosity," she said.
"Amy lived on the central coast, but these people (donating) are from Dubbo. There are other's donating but that's what I love about Dubbo they have such a community spirit. It's overwhelming."
To find out more information, or to donate, please visit www.dryjuly.com
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