Royal meeting to thank Helen-Louise for her Tickled Pink fundraising support
Everyone at our Bromborough store is so proud of our community champion Helen-Louise Sestan-Burton, who was invited to a socially-distanced meeting with His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales in recognition of her amazing fundraising work for our Tickled Pink breast cancer charity campaign.
Helen-Louise has raised thousands of pounds for the appeal, devising fun and creative fundraising activities including designing an amazing Tickled Pink quilt, BBQ’s, balloon modelling and even a two-week step-a-thon.
She met His Royal Highness at the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and said: "Meeting His Royal Highness and seeing Breast Cancer Now’s Research Centre made me so proud of everything our store has done to fundraise for Asda Tickled Pink. It’s incredible to know that the money we have raised helps Breast Cancer Now fund such amazing research and provide vital support for people facing a breast cancer diagnosis.
“Having the chance to meet His Royal Highness is beyond everything I ever imagined. I’ve been an Asda Community Champion for almost 10 years, and every year seeing the work Breast Cancer Now do inspires me to go the ‘extra mile'. I didn’t think it was possible but visiting the Research Centre and meeting The Prince of Wales has inspired me even more to keep fundraising.”
In 2016 Helen-Louise (second from the right) made this memory quilt from Tickled Pink t-shirts she's collected over the years.
His Royal Highness has been Breast Cancer Now’s Royal Patron since 1998 and in 1999 he opened the charity’s Research Centre as the UK's first dedicated breast cancer research centre.
Today, the Research Centre, which is funded by Breast Cancer Now, is globally renowned for bringing together world leaders in key scientific fields and enabling rapid progress in breast cancer research.
The Research Centre currently houses more than 70 researchers from The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR),, with multidisciplinary science from bench to bedside all taking place under one roof.
As well as meeting Breast Cancer Now supporters, His Royal Highness met some of the scientists working in the Research Centre and learnt about key breast cancer research milestones that have been achieved and are benefitting people affected by the disease.
His visit comes at a time when Breast Cancer Now, like many medical research charities, has been forced to reduce its investment in research due to a drop in fundraising income caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlighted why the support of individuals like Helen-Louise has never been more important.
Helen-Louise, fundraising for Tickled Pink at Asda Bromborough
Carrie Green, Associate Director of Corporate Partnerships at Breast Cancer Now, said: “We were so proud to invite Helen-Louise to meet our Royal Patron HRH The Prince of Wales during his visit to our Research Centre, to say thank you for her amazing fundraising efforts.
“Without the support of amazing fundraisers like Helen-Louise, and our corporate partners like Asda, the world-class research breakthroughs we’ve achieved in the 21 years since HRH officially opened the Research Centre in 1999 would not be possible.
“Yet despite the publics continued support, our work has been significantly impacted by the pandemic – our researchers lost 230,000 hours in labs across the UK in the first wave, and we’ve endured a blow to our fundraising income that means we’re now less able to fund new science. All at the same time as delays in diagnosis and disruption to breast cancer services.
“Every year around 55,000 women and 370 men in the UK are diagnosed with this devastating disease. That’s why we need long-term investment in research, to enable new breakthroughs that can transform the lives of people affected by breast cancer.”