Doreen Don

May 16th 1947 - 19th January 2010

Doreen Don, Chairperson of the Glasgow Charity, Breast Cancer 2000 died on the 19th January 2010.  Doreen was a loving wife, mother and grandmother who lived her entire life in the Jordanhill area of Glasgow.

Although a strong family person she always thought of others and was the first to offer assistance to any in distress or trouble.

Her first charity work was helping to raise funds for the Western kidney unit as the family of a close friend’s children required dialysis and subsequent kidney transplants.  This experience was Doreen’s introduction to successful fund raising.

Seventeen years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer and due to the wonderful care she received at the Western Breast Care Unit and the Beatson Oncology Centre she successfully overcame the disease and her recovery gave her the incentive to fund raise in this area.

Initially she became a committee member of the Bearsden charity “The White Lily Fund “ where she assisted fund raising for a number of years.

Her desire was to give something back to the units that treated her illness and in March 2000 she set up her own charity “Breast Cancer 2000”.  Doreen’s and the charity’s specific objectives being to raise funds for the Breast Care Unit and the Beatson Oncology Centre.

As Chairperson of Breast Cancer 2000 she was a driving force, and next to family it was her life, many will remember her determination and doggedness to get things done.  The early success of the charity was boosted by the appointment of Jenni Falconer as patron.

Her ambition was to donate £1 million to these units to fund research into breast cancer and for patient care and comfort.

Doreen and her committee have raised £700,000 to date, but her fellow directors are committed to attaining her target.

Only three months ago she and her family were devastated when she was diagnosed with a completely unconnected pancreatic cancer.  She bore the illness with dignity but realised that on this occasion she would not be able to overcome the disease.   Despite this she remained focussed on the efforts of the charity to continue relentlessly to raise funds and although unable to attend recent events participated by way of direction and motivation to her committee.  Doreen was greatly appreciative of the support and efforts made by her committee during her illness.

She passed away peacefully surrounded by family in the Beatson West of Scotland, survived by her husband and best friend, Alistair and her son, daughter and four grandchildren.