Tributes flood in to 'force of nature' Dot

By richard ault richard.ault@thesentinel.co.uk

MOURNERS have flocked to a charity stall to pay their respects to the grandmother who led a national campaign for a cancer drug.

Most of the visitors to the Dorothy Griffiths Cancer Appeal Fund charity stall at Stoke Market never met the cancer champion in person.

But they were all united in sadness at her passing – and in their calls for Dot to receive a posthumous OBE.

Dot's close friends Margaret Pyatt and Coral Steels have run the charity stall since 2005, when it was first set up to support the campaign for all women who need it to receive cancer drug Herceptin on the NHS.

Mrs Pyatt, from Dresden, said: "People have come in like mourners. It reminds me of when someone dies in a car crash and people lay flowers at the roadside. People have been coming in to say how sorry they are about Dot and to put money into our collection box.

"One lady said she had a box of things for us, but she couldn't face dropping it off yet because she was too upset about Dot.

"But when we first started the stall, it was like a drop-in centre. We had so many ladies saying they had breast cancer and asking what they should do.

"We would say 'ring Dot', because we knew she'd be happy to talk to them.

"She has always been a force of nature. When I first met her years ago, she was exactly the same – so vibrant and bubbly."

Mrs Steels, aged 70, of Maclagan Street, Stoke, said: "So many customers have said how sorry they are about Dot and dropped some money into the box. Many of them have said they didn't know Dot personally, but they admired her.

"People have been inquiring whether is she going to get a posthumous OBE or civic honour."

Dot died on Friday, aged 63, after an 11-year battle with terminal breast cancer.

It was Dot, from Hartshill, who first demanded the wonder drug Herceptin be used to buy women like her, with terminal cancer, extra years of life and she won that fight in 2001.

Four years later, she led the successful Women Fighting For Herceptin campaign which marched to 10 Downing Street and ensured that women with early stage breast cancer could also receive the drug, after clinical trials showed it could prevent tumours returning. In doing so, she brought an end to the post-code prescribing in relation to the drug.

Her funeral will now take place on election day, Thursday, May 6, at Stoke Minster, starting at 11.30am.

Her son Robert Irving, aged 36, of Alsagers Bank, said: "Mum wanted either Stoke Minster or Hartshill Church, but there are so many people who want to come to her funeral, we thought it had to be at Stoke Minster.

"We have had so many messages of support and they are a comfort to us."