Thank you everyone for your kind messages. I feel deeply privileged and proud to be recognised in the New Year's Honours List, especially as it relates to a cause so close to my heart.
ย During my time as President, @Velindre Cancer Charity has raised over ยฃ50 million, an extraordinary achievement and a powerful investment in cancer services across South-East Wales.
ย It has been a privilege to experience exhilarating fundraising events and overseas challenges, witness new support services being launched within the centre, and to see clinical trials progress from early ideas to standardised treatments that now change lives.
Thanks to this generosity, the charity has been able to fund vital support services, including 50% of Velindre's specialist nurses, more than a decade of essential psychology and counselling support, dedicated rooms and resources for children and families, and over ยฃ13.5 million towards groundbreaking research and clinical trials, to name a few.
ย I know personally how crucial these services are to patients and families facing a cancer diagnosis. When I was 12, my dad was diagnosed with cancer at a time where no one really knew what it was. Later, tragedy struck again when my wife received a cancer diagnosis when our children were just 7, 3 and 1 years old.ย Since then, I have continued to support friends and loves ones through treatment and unfortunately, like many of us, have lost some great friends to cancer. These experiences and memories make our fundraising and donations more important than ever.
ย The true success lies not in the total raised but in the people who make it possible. I have cycled beside fundraisers whose passion has moved me to tears, listened to leading clinicians talk about shaping the future of cancer care, and met patients who feel the tangible impact of our work. Meeting them, hearing their stories, and seeing the difference we make brings everything into focus and reminds us why we do what we do.
ย Our success is their hope and, I am deeply proud to stand alongside everyone who helps make that hope a reality."๐๐
๐จ BREAKING: Plaid Cymru are leading the polls in #Wales! ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ
The choice is clear:
โ A pro-Wales Plaid Cymru
โ Anti-Wales Reform UK that threatens our NHS
It's a close race - help us win for Wales ๐ https://t.co/UrkJArpKbT