A Collier Row underground worker has urged people to donate to Saint Francis Hospice after the death of his wife last week.

Lesley Rogers, who was supported by the charity through a lengthy battle with cancer, died aged 46 on Friday, January 28.

Husband Dan described Lesley – born July 7, 1975 – as a woman “full of life and excitement”, who loved sports cars and could “light up a room”.

The pair met more than a decade ago helping Dan’s brother and his girlfriend move house.

Both had partners but when their relationships ended, Dan called Lesley to invite her over.

“She came round and she never left,” Dan recalled.

“We didn’t even have to talk to one another, we just knew each other so well. Her character was my character.”

The couple had a son – Frankie – and married in June 2015, but tragedy struck six months later when Lesley was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.

She was given the all-clear in 2017 after reacting well to chemotherapy, but by 2019 it had returned and spread to her brain.

Lesley was told she had months to live.

The hospice gave Dan and his children counselling and offered Lesley “one-to-one care” which helped her on a number of occasions.

During lockdown, she was admitted to Saint Francis after a seizure; Dan had been told to say goodbye to her, but she made a surprise recovery, regaining her ability to walk and talk.

Dan said the charity had not only given him more time with Lesley, but “luxury time, time you could talk to her – they gave me so much more”.

This June, Dan’s London Underground colleagues will take part in 4 Peaks 4 Reasons, climbing the four highest peaks in the British Isles in support of four charities.

On June 26, they climb Snowdon in Wales for Saint Francis Hospice in honour of Lesley; Dan will be there with Frankie to support them.

He urged people to donate, saying “it couldn’t go to a better place”.

They will also be climbing Carrauntoohil in Ireland, Scafell Pike in England and Ben Nevis in Scotland to support still birth and neonatal death charity Sands, Darent Valley Hospital Cancer Fighting Fund and the Childhood Tumour Trust.

Lesley is survived by husband Dan, son Frankie, 10 and step-children Leah, 18, and Lenie, 17, who Dan said considered her a mother.

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