Local soap star takes leading role in cancer cure campaign

Charlie Hardwick, of Emmerdale fame, hands over

By Elaine O'Flynn

Loveable Emmerdale star Charlie Hardwick visited the University of Leeds to hand over a donation of £25,000 to a breast cancer research project.
    The actress, better known as ‘tart with a heart’ Val Pollard, visited the project based at St James’ University Hospital on February 26 on behalf of Hallmark Cards.

  The donation was part of Hallmark’s annual ‘Cards for a Cure’ campaign for Mother’s Day, which supports the Breast Cancer Campaign and Action Breast Cancer charities.  
    The money will go towards funding the pioneering research project, which hopes to discover more about what influences breast cancer development. Breast cancer leads to the deaths of around 40,000 women in Britain each year.  
    Hardwick, whose character’s outrageous antics around the village of Emmerdale have made her a firm favorite with viewers, said that it was “a real honour” to see for herself the research taking place at the University.  
She said: “I lost a very dear friend to breast cancer, and one of my closest friends is currently making a remarkable recovery since being diagnosed last summer.
    “I’m privileged to lend my support to those pioneers who are helping us to solve this dreadful disease.”
    Part of the groundbreaking research at the University involves mimicking breast cancer in complex three-dimensional models, which accurately represent human disease. This will help improve predictions about how the disease progresses and ensure that patients receive the most appropriate treatments to give them the best chance of survival.
    The ‘Cards for a Cure’ campaign has raised £750,000 altogether towards research into treatment and prevention of breast cancer in the past three years.