Widow 83-year-old Laxmiben Mistry (pictured), who has lived in Preston since 1986, presented the charity’s chief officer, Dan Hill, with a cheque for £2,001.

Mrs Mistry wanted to support a local charity and chose Rosemere Cancer Foundation after speaking to Mr Ishwer Tailor MBE, who is president of Preston’s Gujarat Hindu Society.

Mr Tailor’s mother, 89-year-old Jamnaben Tailor, who has lived in Preston since the 1960s, donated £5,000 to Rosemere Cancer Foundation last year in memory of her late father-in-law Govindbhai Tailor.

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The charity also received a quarter share of £2,572 raised by society member Preston-born Dipesh Patel, who climbed the National Three Peaks (Ben Nevis, Mount Snowdon and Scafell Pike) in 23 hours, 50 minutes also last year to raise his donation, only later discovering he had been climbing with a fractured fibula!

These three individual donations come on top of a £5,435 society donation in 2022, which followed a £4,000 gift from society members in 2018.

Mr Tailor said: “Cancer has no barriers and can affect anyone in the community.”

Dan Hill said: “We are very grateful to Mrs Mistry for her fantastic donation. I can assure her that her gift will most definitely benefit her local community with every penny spent staying in Preston. It’s extremely kind and generous of Mrs Mistry, Mrs Tailor, Mr Patel and all members of Preston’s Gujarat Hindu Society to support their local community through ourselves.”

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Rosemere Cancer Foundation works to bring world-class cancer treatments and services to cancer patients from throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria being treated at Rosemere Cancer Centre, which is the region’s specialist cancer treatment and radiotherapy centre at the Royal Preston Hospital, and also at another eight local hospital cancer units across the two counties, including that at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital.

The charity funds cutting-edge equipment, clinical research, staff training and innovative services and initiatives that the NHS cannot afford in order to make patients’ cancer journey more effective, comfortable and stress-free. For further information on its work, including how to make a donation, visit www.rosemere.org.uk

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Have you donated to the Rosemere Cancer Foundation or have you benefitted from the centre? Let us know in the comments below.