How Ray Hadley’s granddaughter Lola’s story ignited unprecedented wave of generosity

The 2025 Gold Dinner committee had an ambitious target of $80m, and retired radio star Ray Hadley – and his granddaughter Lola – were the pair who helped surpass that figure.

There’s one man who many say helped the Gold Dinner charity committee raise more than their ambitious $80 million target. Ray Hadley.

The retired talkback king’s emotional recounting of his three-year-old granddaughter Lola’s battle with leukaemia moved the 450-strong audience to action, resulting in a record-breaking $84.3 million being raised at the 26th annual Gold Dinner in Sydney on Wednesday night.

It is a significantly larger figure than the New York’s Met Gala, which raised $47m last month.

Hadley’s personal story transformed the evening, which was held at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens, into a powerful call for generosity, leading to unprecedented donations that will fund life-changing initiatives across treatment, research, prevention and care within the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network (SCHN).

Hadley struggled to steady his voice as he spoke to the crowd about his family’s ordeal – and what followed was nothing short of remarkable.

Laura Clark with dad, Ray Hadley, and 3-year-old daughter Lola at home in Cooranbong. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Significant donations came in thick and fast from multiple donors, including individual donations of between $10,000 and up to $500,000 made by heavy-hitters including Mounties Group CEO Dale Hunt, Guzman y Gomez’s Steven Marks, Qantas chairman John Mullen, Shaw and Partners founder Earl Evans, and Urban Property Group’s Patrick Elias.

Clearly moved by Hadley’s heartfelt speech, Bank of America’s head Joseph Fayyad convinced his table to offer a generous $100,000 group pledge.

Ray Hadley speaks at the Gold Dinner. Picture: Supplied

A total of $4 million was raised after Hadley’s speech.

“We got $1 million in 10 seconds,” Hadley said. “I was surprised by the reaction on the floor. It wasn’t my intention to raise more money, it was not a commercial thing. I just spoke about how I felt.”

Gold Dinner committee co-chair Joshua Penn said he had no doubt Hadley’s vulnerable speech moved the crowd to contribute generously.

“I think when you have a speaker that has been personally touched by a child’s experience ... it really moves the crowd to be incredibly generous,” Penn said.

“Maybe because it was such a well-known public figure in Ray Hadley, it showcased that kids cancer spares nobody.”

Ray Hadley with his granddaughter Lola, who is undergoing treatment for leukemia. Picture: Supplied

In May, The Sunday Telegraph revealed the results of Lola’s bone marrow biopsy found no leukaemia cells.

However despite that positive news, each day is a delicate balance between hope and uncertainty.

“It is a rollercoaster,” Hadley said. “I am supposed to be the patriarch and the head of the family, and I am supposed to show strength. I am doing the best I can. I am strong when I am with them, I am not strong when I am away from them,” he said to the crowd.

“I cry myself to sleep some nights thinking about the pain my little baby girl is going through. We get good news, then bad. You are going to have a really good day, then you are going to have a really bad day.

“Now she has gotten through chemo, she’s got mouth ulcers, which is a result of the chemo.

“It is one of those things I still can’t quite fathom.”

Despite the pain and angst, Hadley said there were moments of light during what had become one of the darkest periods of his life.

Nothing could have prepared Ray Hadley, who has dedicated countless hours to helping other sick children throughout his decades-long career, for his granddaughter’s diagnosis. Picture: Supplied

“Her favourite thing is (to say) ‘Poppy, you’ve got a spider in your hair’ and I sort of brush my hair, and I say, ‘Where is it? Where is it? Get the spider out’ and then she laughs.”

Hadley has dedicated countless hours to helping other sick children throughout his decades-long career. However nothing could have prepared him for his granddaughter’s diagnosis.

“I wanted people to know when I had been to functions like that (the Gold Dinner) previously, you hear other people’s stories, you think that’s terrible, then you really hope that it’s not ever going to happen to a member of your family. It is a selfish thing to think, but you just hope and pray it never happens to you.

“Then, all of a sudden, you are one of the people you have listened to hundreds of times.

“Everyone else goes back to their normal life, while the people with a sick child go back to the rollercoaster of chemo, bone marrow biopsies and lumbar punctures, and seeing their little children suffering.

“Eventually there is an end and, in most cases now, it’s a happy end where the child recovers, but you still know that, for 10 per cent, it is not a happy ending and that’s why these events are so important.

“I am here tonight as a grandfather with a granddaughter fighting the most dire of circumstances,” he said to the crowd.

“Of the 10 children Lola is currently in hospital with, nine will come home and one will not.”

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