Cheryl Tweedy has spoken out about some of the last days she spent with Sarah Harding before her tragic death. She has said in a new interview she wants to remember Sarah before her breast cancer diagnosis, rather than when she was experiencing her "darkest of days and nights."
Sarah, who shot to fame alongside Cheryl in Girls Aloud in the earlier noughties, died aged 39 last September after revealing she had breast cancer which had spread to other parts of her body. Her bandmates shared their own tributes in the days following Sarah's death.
It was her mother, Marie, who announced her daughter's death on Instagram, describing her 'beautiful' daughter as 'a bright, shining star'.
READ MORE: Ashley Cain emotionally shares how he spent birthday at daughter's resting place on ITV GMB
It has now been announced that the remaining former members of Girls Aloud are to host a fundraising gala for cancer research next month in honour of their late bandmate. The Primrose Ball will be held at The Londoner hotel in central London on October 8, with performances from the likes of Olly Alexander and a live auction which includes an original canvas depicting the pop star by artistic duo the Connor Brothers.
The charity gala will raise funds for the Christie NHS Foundation Trust, based in Withington, Manchester, and Cancer Research UK, as part of the Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal.
Following the news of the charity event, in a piece for British Vogue, Cheryl revealed that Sarah, who grew up in Stockport, had hoped to attend the event in person before her death. "I asked her over and over again how we could help," Cheryl said in the publication. "Was there anything she truly wanted or needed?
"Finally she said to me: ‘I would love you to create an evening, a gala of some kind for me. If I am here and can attend I will be able to thank those who have helped me through all of this, and pay that forward in a way that will help others when I’m gone.’ Unfortunately that wasn’t to be. Eight weeks later, Sarah passed."
Cheryl, 39, said she wanted to “move forward by remembering Sarah before her illness”. She added: "Her fun, bubbly side, her close-to-the-edge risky side, and her deeply soft and vulnerable side are some of the intricacies that made up Sarah in all of her glory."
She also recalled some of the last days she got to spend with Sarah. "In the last few days spent with her, we got to laugh, cry, reminisce, cook, watch spiritual programmes (our shared love) and pray together," mum-of-one Cheryl said. "Those are the parts I will keep in my heart as I let the illness recede into the background.
"Now I want to commemorate her by helping to give thanks to those who kept her going in her darkest of days and nights. The darkest nights create the brightest stars."
Cheryl, Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle and Nicola Roberts will host The Primrose Ball, with Fearne Cotton presenting and broadcaster Johnny Gould hosting the auction. The special event is named after her lyrics from their hit song The Promise where she sings 'here I am walking Primrose.'
In July, the singers took part in a 5k charity run, titled Race For Life For Sarah, to celebrate Harding’s life and raise money for breast cancer. The Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal aims to fund research to identify new ways to predict which young women, with no family history of breast cancer, are likely to develop the disease, ensuring people can be identified earlier when treatment is more likely to be successful.
READ NEXT:
- Stacey Solomon looks gorgeous as she realises son is Joe Swash's 'twin' in family reunion
- ITV Loose Women's Nadia Sawalha's plea to followers as she shares photo from hospital bed
- ITV I'm A Celebrity All Stars rumoured line-up in full after Ant and Dec reveal
- Keith Lemon's cute response to bumping into Holly Willoughby as he defends her from 'queue' mocking
- BBC Strictly Come Dancing's Helen Skelton say she's 'trying to be sexy' as she shows sore feet in training
