A GROUP of friends who celebrated the end of their cancer treatment by holding a fundraising party are organising another ball for charity.

When breast cancer survivor Mandy Keable got together with friends Claire Ellis, Beccy Preston and Sean Cleghorn to arrange a small party to thank the community for their support during treatment, their plans soon turned into a stunning gala ball and auction and marked the creation of the Kingsclere Cancer Research Fundraiser group.

Now, the friends have organised another event hoping to raise more money for Cancer Research UK.

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The Kingsclere Cancer Research Ball will take place Oakley Hall hotel on Friday, September 6.

The group said: “The Kingsclere Cancer Research Fundraiser was born in 2021. Our first event in 2022 began life as a party to thank our community for their unbelievable support during our journeys with cancer, and grew into a huge gala ball which raised £40,222.35 for Cancer Research UK.”

People are now being asked to get involved by buying tickets, donating a prize for the ball’s silent auction or making a monetary donation.

To find out more, go to kingsclerecrf.org.uk.

Mandy’s was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2019, she underwent a lumpectomy and received chemotherapy treatment that Cancer Research UK helped to develop.

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Claire also benefitted from the progress Cancer Research UK has made in treating bowel cancer after her diagnosis in 2021 following years of digestive issues. After having a tumour removed, she received a combination of two drugs - oxaliplatin which the charity helped to develop and capecitabine, a treatment for which Cancer Research UK led the first human clinical trials.

Research has played an important part in Beccy’s life after discovering her family carries the faulty BRCA gene. Faulty BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes increase the risk of people developing breast, ovarian, pancreatic and prostate cancer.

Their plans stepped up a gear when Sean, 57, joined the group in 2022. Having tragically lost his wife Allison just four weeks after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer during the winter lockdown of 2020-21.