The Debbie Baldwin Gala - Rob's Story

In our previous post, we highlighted the significance of the annual Debbie Baldwin Gala, and looked at what it meant to Debbie’s husband Prav.

In this post, we spoke to Debbie’s best friend - Rob, who talked us through why the gala is so special to him and the importance of raising awareness of ovarian cancer. Rob also speaks about his daughter Rosie’s recent fundraising challenge and reflects on the incredible person that Debbie was.

“Raising awareness of ovarian cancer is particularly important to me as my best friend, Debbie, sadly lost her battle with ovarian cancer in September 2021 (at the age of 52). She has always been an inspiration to me and to all that knew her. She touched the hearts of everyone she met; always there to support others even when she was the one who may have needed support. Her warmth on all occasions was evident and her smile would light up the room - as mentioned by so many people 'once met never forgotten'.

I met Debbie at a holiday camp (known back then as Sunshine Holiday camp – Hayling Island) when I was 16 years of age (I’ll be 54 this year!). From the moment we met, I just knew we would be friends forever! Debbie meant so much to me, she was always supportive and encouraging, she had the most incredibly warm heart and she never judged!

Debbie worked in an extremely busy, important and high-profile role, as a Mental Health Lawyer, yet in her spare time she was constantly involved in giving back to others."

"She was a London Ambulance Emergency Responder volunteer, which she joined in 2015. To recognise her efforts and remember Debbie, the London Ambulance Service have since introduced the:

‘Debbie Baldwin Inspirational Volunteer Award’ for its Annual Emergency Responder Awards.

But not only did Debbie devote so much of her time as an emergency responder, she also passionately shared her story to promote greater awareness of ovarian cancer and its symptoms, to help save more lives.

Throughout her career, Debbie fought to change peoples’ lives for the better. She advocated for abused and neglected children, and for the mentally ill facing the death penalty in America, continuing to volunteer for the London Ambulance Service even after her diagnosis of ovarian cancer in 2018.

Debbie had a very short but clear message, which was:

“I hope promoting greater awareness about ovarian cancer will help other women and ultimately, save more lives.”

"Supporting Ovacome has become very important to me, as I know Debbie valued the support they offered her when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Since then, I have been so amazed and impressed by the support of my family, friends and work colleagues, as they rally around to support me, my cause and ultimately, Ovacome. They have been incredibly generous in both their time and money; attending the Ovacome Gala last year and doing the same for the Gala this year, supporting my daughter (Rosie) in her quest to run (and complete) the London Marathon.

I am immensely proud of what Rosie has achieved in the London Marathon! She really wanted to do something different (beyond just supporting the Gala), so when the opportunity of the London Marathon came up, she jumped at the chance to reach out to Ovacome and to see if she could be considered as one of the Ovacome marathon runners.

Watching her running, waving and smiling at mile 13 was inspiring.......by mile 22 she was walking, crying and completely broken! It was heartbreaking and incredibly emotional, yet so amazingly inspiring! 

She completed the marathon and was hobbling around on crutches for the early days after the marathon. But, as I said to Rosie, the pain of the marathon will fade, but the memories will remain! She has also helped to raise so much awareness of ovarian cancer and personally helped to raise £7,135!"

We’d like to say a big thanks to Prav and Rob for sharing why the gala is so important to them, as well as all of the awareness raising they’ve undertaken in honour of Debbie’s memory.

If you’d like to make a donation, as well as find out more about Debbie’s legacy, you can visit her in memoriam fundraising page here: https://www.ovacome.org.uk/fundraisers/debbie-baldwin