Six-year-old holds event for Velindre

A SIX-YEAR-OLD girl is organising her own fundraising coffee morning after a close family member was diagnosed with cancer.

Ffion Nicholas asked her mum if she could hold her own event to raise money for Cardiff-based centre Velindre after her aunt, Sally Nicholas, 40, was diagnosed with bowel cancer last year.

The six-year-old is now busy drawing up an invite list and designing posters ahead of the event at her home in St Mellons on Saturday, September 8.

Ffion’s mum, Vanessa Sanders, said her daughter approached her with the idea a few weeks ago after seeing an advert for coffee mornings on the television.

The 38-year-old said: “Obviously it is being advertised at the moment around Macmillan coffee mornings.

“There was an advert on the TV and Ffion asked what it was about. She knows her Auntie Sally has cancer and said she would like to do one.

“I said ‘that’s a brilliant idea.’”

Vanessa said the family have been very open about her aunt’s illness ever since she received her diagnosis last year.

“She is very close – she absolutely adores her Auntie Sally,” Vanessa said. “But we aren’t shying away from it with the children.

“We obviously don’t talk about the prognosis and stuff but I don’t think we should hide things from children either.”

Cancer support charity Macmillan will hold its annual World’s Biggest Coffee Morning on Friday, September 28.

Last year the event raised more than £27m.

Ffion will be raising money for the Velindre NHS Trust, which has provided specialist cancer services in Wales since 1994.

Vanessa said they have invited around 60 friends and family to the coffee morning, and expect around 30 or 40 to attend.

She said: “It’s quite emotional because she does adore her Aunty Sally but also quite sad to think about what the future could bring.

“It shows quite a lot of maturity there to raise money for a cause so it makes me quite proud.”