Friends walk through the night for Dawn

Shakila Barabhuiya • Published 4 Mar 2010 11:45 0 Comments

TEN women devastated by the death of their friend are determined for her memory to live on.

A group of friends have signed up for the Midnight Walk to raise money for Sue Ryder in memory of Dawn Hughes, a former BBC employee who died from breast cancer four months ago.

The friends used to go out together in town and on holidays abroad with Dawn, who lived with her husband and three children in Caversham.

Sue Morris, who knew Dawn for more than 25 years and is doing the walk on Saturday, May 8, said: "If she was looking down on us, she would be really chuffed.

"Her girls are still thinking about her and trying to help other people who are in her situation."

Dawn was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 36 in 2001. She was told she had a secondary cancer in 2005.

The drugs she needed to prolong her life were not available on the NHS so she and her friends fundraised tirelessly to pay for treatment in Germany.

Sue, a corporate administrator for a financial company, added: "Dawn was friendly, loving and a happy person.

"She loved dancing and she loved having a boogie even when she was very ill. She touched many people's hearts and there were lots of people who cared about her."

The mother-of-three clearly left a mark on her colleagues because a plaque went up in her name at the BBC monitoring station in Caversham on February 21.

The 44-year-old spent her last few days in the Sue Ryder hospice in Nettlebed where she was looked after by staff and given pain killers and massages.

Sue, 47, from Woodley said: "They tried to help her feel almost normal and they treated her with respect.

"The staff are very caring and they listened to her."

Sue, who did the Race for Life four years ago with Dawn cheering her on from the sidelines, said: "We will all be laughing and chatting the whole way round and remembering the good times we had with Dawn. We'll be wearing T-shirts, with Dawn's name and maybe her picture on the back."

Sue will be joined on the walk by her sisters Alison and Karen, who were also part of Dawn's friendship group as well as her 16-year-old daughter Lacey and her niece Ashleigh, 14. She said: "Lacey and Ashleigh are quite excited about doing it.

"They knew Dawn all their lives and they wanted to do something to help."

In a rallying call for people to get involved she said: "Just go and do it in memory of people you love and for people who are suffering at the moment."

More than 300 women have already signed up for the walk, well on the way to beating the 600 who took pat last year.

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