A HELENSBURGH woman who was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 recently held a 'Matinee at the Musicals' event in the town to raise funds for two cancer charities.

Donna Hicks, 44, was diagnosed with myeloma, a type of cancer that develops from cells in the bone marrow called plasma cells, in September 2014.

Donna experiences fatigue on a daily basis but its not her own experiences of cancer that spur her on to raise money and awareness.

The cancer means that Donna no longer works and has instead been fundraising for various cancer charities and raising awareness.

Donna lost her mum to cancer in 2014 and was determined to keep her memory alive for her grandchildren Conor, Ollie and Emily.

She said: “The main day to day difficulty I experience is fatigue but I’ve realised that whether I sit around doing nothing, or whether I’m active and keep busy, I feel the same - so I’d rather be busy, living life to the full.”

Donna has arranged many fundraisers in the local area and her most recent was potentially her most successful yet.

The idea for a Matinee at the Musicals event came to Donna around 10 years ago but only recently did the idea materialise when the event, held at The Tower Digital Arts Centre, sold out. The Tower Digital Arts Centre, a charity themselves, allowed Donna the use of the venue for free, delighted to help where they could.

With the help of Pamela Frew from Hermitage Academy, they then started contacting performers they knew to see if they were interested.

The event featured a variety of performers, 20 adults and around 15 children, who were happy to help out.

Andrew Turnbull lent a hand as multi-media expert to ensure the event made full use of the facilities available at The Tower.

Donna said: “The concert saw everyone go through a variety of emotions because almost everyone knows someone affected by cancer.

“The performers came together to sing You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel in memory of people they had lost to cancer.

“Behind the performers on the screen as they sang were pictures of their loved ones.

“The feedback from the event has been amazing, if emotional.”

The event raised £4,189.49 which will be split between the Beatson Cancer Charity and Myeloma UK.

Donna added: “It was a real team effort, everyone helped make it a success. The staff at The Tower were fantastic letting us use the venue and equipment for free, Pamela was a great help, Andrew helped make it all special and to the performers and everyone who came along, I am so grateful. “We managed to make £3,000 from the sale of the seats alone and the raffle made about £750. I was hoping to make the £4,000 mark but we surpassed it and I am delighted that it will go to helping other people and their families.”

Claire Lang, head of volunteers at The Tower, said: " congratulated Donna for putting on such an amazing event. She said :”It was amazing and all for a great cause. "Thank to Brian Keating for allowing Donna the use of the cinema and to all the staff who gave up their time to help.“The talent was amazing and they touched everyone’s hearts, many like myself will have lost people to cancer. Congratulations to Donna for pulling it all together.”

The Beatson Cancer Charity will receive a share of the money raised on the night which will be used to help patients and their families on their cancer journey.

Maisie Hamilton, community fundraising manager at the Beatson, attended on the night. She said: “It was fantastic, I found it quite emotional. Everyone was so talented and it was so well organised, it was unexpected. We couldn’t do what we do without donations like these. We want to help people on their cancer journey and this donation will go towards that. We are eternally grateful.”

The event was so successful that a second one is already planned for February 24, 2019 and Donna is excited to get started.

She said: “As long as I am able to I will fundraise and raise awareness. It’s exciting to be putting on another one. It’s given me a focus and is my next thing to work on.”

Film students at the City of Glasgow College also benefitted from the event as they were allowed to film it for experience for university.