Alexandra Morgan is much more than just a pretty face. She has raised more than £50,000 for charity and is now a community fundraiser for Tenovus. Her life has been a rollercoaster of emotion but, despite that, the 28-year-old is determined to keep up her inspirational work. She talked to MELISSA JONES.

WHEN my name was called out I nearly collapsed.

I was in the Miss Heart of Wales 2012 final against 36 other beautiful girls and I had already won Miss Eloquent. I thought it was brilliant that I had won something.

Then they called out the runners-up, and then the winner – number 16, Alexandra Morgan.

I stood there for a minute and everyone was looking at me as if to say ‘are you going to move?!’ I went up to the stage and they took the little crown off my head and put the big one on.

It was the end of an unbelievable weekend in February – the night before I was presented with an Extra Mile Award for all my charity work.

I was on a high for weeks afterwards.

Miss Heart of Wales was about celebrating femininity and beauty from within, which I felt was quite different to other pageants.

In 2007, when I was 19, I was approached on the street in Cardiff and asked to enter Miss Wales.

I think any girl likes the opportunity of being asked to model so I thought I would go for it.

I had done little bits before, and organised a charity fashion show at my old school, Rougemont, for Cancer Research.

I reached the final of Miss Wales at the Coal Exchange, Cardiff, and the atmosphere was fantastic.

It was a lovely day, although it’s hard work trying to smile all the time. You arrive early for registration and from then you practise walking up and down the catwalk and have an interview with the judges. It’s great to meet all the girls.

It was a wonderful experience but, if I’m honest, it wasn’t me. I think I was seeking the beauty from within and charity side of things rather than getting points on your looks and figure.

I also won Miss Gwent 2009 and was in Miss Wales 2008, but I felt this was all superficial when my mum Terri was diagnosed with bowel cancer around the same time.

I felt sad that mum wasn’t able to attend all these lovely things. It felt ironic as mum had supported me through my charity work and now she was facing the battle that I was trying to raise money for.

However, I thought she would get better.

When she was first diagnosed she was operated on, told she didn’t need more treatment and was given the all-clear.

That’s why I went travelling around the world for four months with a friend.

We went to Tokyo, Singapore, Australia, Fiji and America and mum was emailing me throughout.

Then I had a really bad bout of food poisoning and came home early. It wasn’t long after that, a few months, when mum became ill again.

Sometimes I think that was meant to be, so I could spend more time with her.

She was rediagnosed in the Royal Gwent Hospital. It was horrendous. They had removed the first tumour but it was so aggressive it kept coming back.

My mum was my best friend, my everything.

What she was going through made me more determined to give something back and help as best I could.

I carried on with my fundraising and was a home carer for my mum.

Sometimes I stayed with her overnight in Velindre. It really was an emotional rollercoaster.

One minute we had good news that the tumour had shrunk, the next that the treatment wasn’t working.

Throughout it all mum was so strong.

Not once did she complain – she always thought she was going to beat it. Two days before she passed away, aged 54, in April 2009, we were told the biggest tumour had shrunk to half the size and the smaller ones had gone.

I was due to host a big blacktie ball at the Holiday Inn in Newport one month after mum passed away and I felt like cancelling it. But my friends and family said ‘no, it’s not what your mum would want, she would have wanted you to carry on’.

So it went ahead as a tribute to her.

It was emotional but I think I was still numb at that point.

A couple called Jayne and Dai Lewis contacted me after hearing about my story in the Argus and said they wanted to support the event. They are an amazing couple and we raised £4,000 and I’m still very close to them now.

In September, I went to Brazil with the Bobby Moore Fund, which helps support research into bowel cancer.

I turned up at Heathrow not knowing a soul.

I sat in departures and cried and said I wanted to go home.

But people said they felt I should go and they could help.

We were building a school for deprived children.

I learned lots of new skills and on one of the walls I painted a huge yellow star with my mum’s name inside, which I hope will be there for a long time.

The trip helped me cope with my grief, to give something back, especially to a bowel cancer charity, and I made the best of friends on that trip.Mum was a very warm person, very giving and funny.

She was always doing funny things to make me laugh.

We used to do pamper days and shopping trips and she was a great support to everything I did.Mumwas supposed to go to St Anne’s Hospice but unfortunately she was on the waiting list and never made it in there. I saw a job for a community fundraiser for the hospice come up and I felt it was meant for me.

I set up a fundraising group called Hope Happens to bring in fresh fundraising ideas and it was supported by local celebrities such as Sean McGoldrick and 2008 Big Brother winner Rachel Rice.

I have had a number of articles in the Argus and I was fundraising to go to Brazil.

A lady called Verity Imm called to say she had £600 left over from her fundraising the year before for the Bobby Moore Fund and said she wanted to give it to me.

I invited her to the ball in memory of my mum and from there we became the best of friends.

Her mum, like mine, was diagnosed with bowel cancer.

We always say to each other we are meant to be friends.

She was working for Tenovus and told me there was a community fundraiser job coming up, which is where I am now. I’d like to think I was a big support for Verity and when we had the news her mum didn’t have very long I tried to support her and tell her time is a great healer. I am running the Cardiff Half Marathon in memory of our mums in October. I like to think they are looking down on us and are proud.

We have a great time here at Tenovus. I wake up in the morning and look forward to going to work. I decided I would really like to set up another group like Hope Happens so I have created ‘Allovus for Tenovus’, to bring in new ideas.

We have a zumba party planned for September at Oceana nightclub in Cardiff, and a Christmas party at St Mellons country club on November 23. The target is to raise awareness and the eight girls in the group are so motivated.

I am planning a fashion show for Breast Cancer Awareness month in October, where cancer patients model clothing from Coast and from Tenovus charity shops and people have to guess which is which.

In addition, ‘Boobcamp’ that month will involve handsome young men putting women through their paces at a three-hour fitness session.

One of my aims is to help fund another mobile Tenovus cancer treatment unit. I just wish mum had known abut it when she was alive.

I often think my mum has guided me and I feel I am meant to be working for Tenovus. People always say I’m like my mum and I wear pearls to remind me of her.

My grandparents Foddy and Ray have been so supportive, along with my partner Craig Smith.

My nan has almost taken over as a mother figure – every Sunday she cooks me lunch and we go out for drinks. She comes to all my events and collects my raffle prizes, it’s great. But not a day goes by when I don’t think about mum. My goal at the minute is to be out of a job –because then they will have found a cure for cancer. I am still seeking girls to take part in our competition to find an ambassador for Tenovus. A natural beauty will be crowned the winner on August 18 at the Celtic Manor final.

Anyone interested should email me at alexandra.morgan@tenovus.org.uk