Miss World and Mari Grug were special guests at our gala dinner
Fundraising event raises almost £2,500
Miss World – Opal Suchata Chuangsri, and TV and radio celebrity and Cancer Research Wales ambassador Mari Grug were the special guests at our fundraising gala dinner on 25 October.
We’re very grateful to Miss UK - Millie-Mae Adams from Cardiff, who is also a Cancer Research Wales ambassador, for organising the event which raised almost £2,500.
Opal had flown in especially for the event from Bangkok and Mari was speaking publicly the night before the broadcast of an S4C documentary about her cancer journey called ‘Mari Grug: Un Dydd Ar y Tro/Mari Grug: One Day at a Time’.
An honour to speak at the gala
Opal is a breast cancer campaigner and a found a lump on her breast when she was just 16-years-old.
During her speech she thanked Cancer Research Wales and said that it was an honour to speak at the gala dinner.
“Breast cancer is something very close to my heart. At the age of 16 I found a lump on the side of my breast. Luckily it was benign, but it took its toll on the life of a 16-year-old, therefore tonight is something very special not only for you all, but for me too” said Opal.
Devotion, hard work and passion
Opal spoke about her last visit to Wales when she visited a Cancer Research Wales-funded laboratory in Cardiff and the lasting impression that left on her.
“On my last trip to Wales, I got to visit Cancer Research Wales along with my beautiful friends Millie-Mae and Helena. I witnessed not only advancements in science and medicine and technology, but more importantly than that, I witnessed the devotion, the hard work and the passion that the researchers put into their work in order to create a better life for breast cancer and cancer patients”, said Opal.
Fundraising auction and fashion show
Also present at the event were Miss Wales Helena Hawke from Caerleon and Cancer Research Wales ambassador – the retired Welsh sprint athlete and television presenter, Jamie Baulch, who held a fundraising auction.
As part of the night’s entertainment there was a fashion show featuring evening wear from Cancer Research Wales’s stores and Jayne’s Boutique on Eversley Road in Swansea, which were kindly modelled by cancer survivors Rachel Reed, Sacha Stoyle and Leanne Jones.
Thank you very much to everyone who came along on the night and helped make the gala held at the prestigious Holland House Hotel on Newport Road in Cardiff such a success.