House of Fraser boss gives £1m to Marsden in tribute to his wife

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The chairman of House of Fraser today gave £1 million to the Royal Marsden Hospital in memory of his wife - and spoke for the first time about her death.

Don McCarthy lost his wife Diane in April last year after a 19-month battle with cancer.

His donation is the single largest gift received this year by the Marsden in Chelsea and will help build the Diane McCarthy Day Centre to improve the lives of chemotherapy patients.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, the 51-year-old businessman said he wanted to teach his two children the importance of caring for others. The couple, who had been together for 30 years, had two children, Hannah, 18, and John, 14.

Mr McCarthy, whose fortune is estimated at £110million, said: "The hospital was very good to my wife and the standard of care was great. Now we have to give something back.

"Life is about giving back as well and I have to teach my children it's about caring for other people.

"In life, everyone has issues that happen to thembut when you fall down it's about how you get up again." Mrs McCarthy, who used to work for Granada TV, was diagnosed with bowel cancer at the age of 47 and died two years later after the disease spread.

The aim of the new day centre is to provide a high level of comfort for patients so treatment is more bearable.

Mr McCarthy said the areas where patients received daily drug treatment were often "not that nice".

He said: "We want to put together an area which is more sympathetic, an area where they can watch TV and read. When you're there for seven hours it's difficult to have privacy and find interesting things to do.

"It's a traumatic time for a lot of these people. An awful lot of money goes into cancer research but I think the care environment is important."

Mr McCarthy said their children were coming to terms with their mother's death.

He said: "Life changes when you lose your partner. Obviously what's important are the children. They miss their mother but they don't want their parent to be ill and suffering.

"One year on, they're in a very good place. This will help them understand that it's good to give to other people." The Royal Marsden was the first hospital in the world dedicated to cancer treatment and research into the causes of the disease. It suffered a devastating fire in January which destroyed much of the roof and operating theatres.

Rebecca Butler, the Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign's fundraising director, said: "We're incredibly delighted to receive this donation from Mr McCarthy and his two children in memory of Diane.

"It will now ensure that we have a state-of-the-art medical day unit where patients will be able to receive their chemotherapy in comfort and new, spacious surroundings."

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