Giffnock man helps fund vital research into ovarian cancer following wife’s passing

Dorothy Levine was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer in 2018, and sadly died two years later aged 76.

If diagnosed at the earliest stage, 9 in 10 women will survive, but two thirds of women are diagnosed late, when the cancer is harder to treat.

Her husband, Brian, took it upon himself to look into ways he could help ovarian cancer patients in the future whilst making sure Dorothy’s legacy lives on.

Brian, said: “We met when we were very young, when we were 17.

“We were engaged two years later, and we married two years after that. We were married for 53 years. We had three children together.

"Dorothy was always interested in art, she waited until she was 51 and she went to college and completed a degree in art and ceramics.

“She spent a lot of time teaching on a voluntary basis to an elderly group. She did that for 15 years.

“The only reason she gave it up was because of the start of her ill health.”

Brian said when Dorothy sadly passed away in 2020, he immediately started thinking of ways he could help women to be diagnosed sooner.

Brian said: “Dorothy was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer which is as bad as it gets, and neither of us appreciated that.

“When she passed, we immediately thought ‘What can we do? How is it that people only find out when they’re at stage four because there are very few symptoms.’ We thought

maybe we could set up a charity.

“We had sensational treatment and we were well looked after at the Beatson, and we thought the best place to do this would be at the Beatson and after discussions with consultant, Dr Ros Glasspool, we formed the charity.

“I wanted to specifically mention ovarian cancer, so we set up the name of the tribute fund which explains exactly what it is we wanted to do, and the charity fund is called ‘The Dorothy Levine Research Fund into early diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer’.”

The research fund has raised over £10,000 since it was launched, which goes towards the IMAGINE study.

The study falls under the field of precision oncology or personalised medicine and is expected to recruit 200 patients over a five-year timeframe.

The research has been valued at around £300,000 and thanks to the Dorothy Levine Research Fund, Beatson Cancer Charity was able to award a grant totalling £57,000 to support the work of the IMAGINE Study.

Brian is encouraging members of the public to get behind the research fund to ensure more women are diagnosed before it’s too late.

Brian said: “The fact that this is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month would be a magnificent time to contribute to the fund.

"Everybody knows it’s a very difficult thing to diagnose unless you specifically go to have a test for something else and that may reveal early stages

of cancer, but the majority of women are diagnosed far too late.”

You can contribute to the fund at www.beatsoncancercharity.org/dorothy-levine-research-fund/