Toddler's artwork fetches $200 for cancer charity

He may be just a toddler but Kale Grigsby is quite the professional when it comes to artwork and raising cash for a cause.

A scribbled drawing the 1-year-old cancer patient created entitled A Rainbow After Rain fetched $200 at the Professionals McDowell Charity Breakfast and Auction at Rotorua's Distinction Hotel yesterday. Nearly $20,000 was raised for the Child Cancer Foundation.

Kale was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in his chest last June, a real shock for his family, said his mother, Angie Grigsby, whose mother Ada Reti died of cancer nine years ago.

The family got through Kale's surgery to remove the tumour and the trauma of living with cancer, thanks to help from the Rotorua branch of the Child Cancer Foundation, Mrs Grigsby said.

"They were fantastic. We would never have got through it without them."

Wearing a suit and tie, Kale also won a prize for being the best dressed at yesterday's breakfast.

Three-year-old Paige Maxwell, who featured in The Daily Post earlier in the week, fetched a whopping $750 for her artwork, titled I Can Walk Again.

Phil Hereford of McDowell's Professionals said he was impressed with the attendance of nearly 400 people at the breakfast and the amount raised.

"It's just huge. We've had amazing support," he said. "Heaps of people also donated because they couldn't come."

Staff got "a real buzz" out of being involved, Mr Hereford said.

"Sometimes we have the odd hiccup but it's a real joy to be involved."

Some of the pictures created by children with cancer fetched between $180 and $525 at the auction.

Someone from the United States made a successful telephone bid of $1250 for an upside-down sketch of Steve Jobs, while another bidder paid $1500 for a Radio Shack cycling jersey. A signed Breakers singlet raised $650, while accommodation and tourism packages sold for $400, $550 and $300.

Rotorua rally drivers Taryn and Sloane Cox raised $900 for the foundation by auctioning off a ride in a rally car.