Last week the committee of Cancer Research Wales Brecon and Sennybridge branch were delighted to welcome Kieran Harris, recently appointed CEO, to their AGM.

Mr Harris thanked the committee for their tireless efforts in fundraising and said he was incredibly grateful for the amazing sum of around £265,000 raised by the committee since 2008. He also commented on the range of events planned for later this year which include the open garden and afternoon tea at Penpont on July 2.

Cancer researchers in North Wales will receive more than £600,000 for several exciting programmes including the detection and treatment of lung, bowel and ovarian cancers, some of the leading causes of cancer deaths in Wales. Also in North Wales, researchers are investigating how cancer cells can repair their DNA following treatments such as chemotherapy; this will help to ensure that patients are treated with the right drug at the right time.

Cutting edge developments in West Wales include new treatments for leukaemia, and blood tests and treatments for prostate and throat cancers for which the researchers will receive around £400,000. Further funding will be made available to distinguish the aggressive forms of prostate cancer and to develop a test for throat cancer.

South East Wales’ focus is on brain cancers and £235,000 goes towards the development of laboratory created ‘mini brains’ on which scientists can test new therapies for brain tumours. Further research is ongoing to engineer a common virus to infect and kill cancer cells and also to test delivering chemotherapy directly into the tumour.

All parts of Wales are set to benefit from this significant new investment into cancer research which brings the total invested to over £2 million since December 2022.

This ground-breaking research is enabled partly by the generous donations and contributions from our Brecon and Sennybridge communities.