Ovarian Cancer Action receives £150,000 at NEX Giving Day

Ovarian Cancer Action was honoured to have been nominated as one of the six chosen charities for the first NEX Giving Day, held in London on 7th June. 

NEX is a global financial technology company and the day provides an opportunity for their clients, suppliers and colleagues around the world to come together, pooling their collective energy with one goal in mind: to give money to the causes they care about.

Prior to the event, we had worked with a group of NEX ambassadors, whose job it was to champion Ovarian Cancer Action in the workplace. The team worked tirelessly to explain to colleagues why early detection is so vital and the difference that an ovarian cancer screening tool could make for thousands of women and their families. For one of our ambassadors, Andy, this was very close to home. His wife Sarah was diagnosed with aggressive ovarian cancer in 2009, but was lucky to have caught the disease in its earliest stages and ten years on is a ‘super-survivor’. Read his story here.

The day itself consisted of two parts. In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to go into NEX’s offices to showcase our work and engage with employees with a number of themed activities. These included a caricaturist, who drew pictures of staff as geeky scientists; a punchbag, manned by professional boxer Dan Azeez; and a chance to help out with real scientific research via a simple iPad game, created by Professor Ahmed’s team at the University of Oxford. While taking part in the game, this was also a fantastic opportunity for the scientists to speak to employees about their research into the development of the world’s first ovarian cancer screening tool.

The evening event took place at Old Billingsgate, where our celebrity patron Vanessa Feltz and supporter Josh Azouz made a short pitch to convince attendees to vote for our project to receive an additional donation. After further speeches from Blue Marine Foundation, Missing People, JDRF, The Rooprai Spinal Trust and West Ham United Foundation, NEX CEO Michael Spencer made a shock anouncement that there would be no vote, and instead every charity would receive the additional £75,000. This was on top of the donation received when we were first nominated, bringing the total to an incredible £150,000 – enough to fund a whole year of Professor Ahmed’s research.

It was fantastic to be a part of this event and we are so grateful to all those who worked so hard to make it possible. Thanks to NEX’s generosity we are one step closer to an effective screening tool for ovarian cancer.

Our corporate partners are extraordinarily important to us. No matter how big your company is, or what you choose to do, by joining together we can make a real difference to the lives of thousands of women. Find out more.