Angie Dimmock raises money in City-Bay Fun Run for Flinders Foundation in honour of husband Dean

After surviving for seven years with prostate cancer, Dean Dimmock hoped to help his wife recover from brain surgery. Tragically, he was robbed of that dream.

Dean Dimmock was looking forward to giving back to his wife Angie after she had spent the past seven years nursing him through prostate cancer treatment.

Mrs Dimmock had health issues of her own they needed to deal with. The former marathon runner needed brain surgery to remove a 30mm tumour.

“Finally, it’s my turn to look after you,” Mr Dimmock told his partner of 34 years.

That was September, 2022. Less than a month after her operation, Mr Dimmock was diagnosed with a double-hit lymphoma – an rare aggressive cancer completely unrelated to the prostate cancer – and Mrs Dimmock was thrust back into the role of nurse.

“The treatment was absolutely gruelling – five days in hospital for continuous chemo every three weeks,” Mrs Dimmock said.

“And then we’d get to the stage where they would be testing to make sure the lymphoma had gone, and they’d find a lump somewhere. It was just awful, it was truly awful.”

Over the next 12 months, Mrs Dimmock and the couple’s daughter Alyce watch Mr Dimmock fight bravely, but by October last year, his immune system could cope no more. He held on just long enough to see his second granddaughter born 18 days before his death. Mr Dimmock died aged 56, eight years after his original prostate cancer was detected.

Angie Dimmock holding a picture of her late husband, Dean, with her daughter, Alyce Dimmock, and her granddaughters. Picture: Matt Loxton

“Literally, in 12 months, he disappeared in front of us, sadly,” Mrs Dimmock said. “It was the saddest thing you could imagine.”

Mrs Dimmock and Alyce are still grieving, but at least 20 of their family and friends will participate in this year’s Luminary City-Bay fun in September to honour Mr Dimmock’s legacy and raise money for cancer research.

Family friend Stela Lumsden has organised the Doing It For Dean City-Bay team, which will continue Mr and Mrs Dimmock’s proud tradition of fundraising for the Flinders Foundation.

The couple have been passionate fundraisers for the foundation for many years, raising between $50,000 and $60,000 – primarily for research into prostate cancer.

“Dean’s passion for finding the answer won’t stop because he’s gone … I suppose if anything his memory keeps the hope firing,” Mrs Dimmock said. “Because the biggest hope you can put out there is that they find the answers and stop this cancer.”

Dean Dimmock. Picture: Supplied

Dean and Angie Dimmock. Picture: Supplied

Their fundraising efforts included Mrs Dimmock and three friends running the New York Marathon in 2018. Her 2022 brain operation left her with hearing and balance issues, so she is no longer able to run – but is determined to walk the 12km of the City-Bay.

The Doing It For Dean team will also include cancer researcher Associate Professor Luke Selth, who worked closely with the Mr Dimmock for years. Their fundraising helped purchase a specialised incubator at the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer, and Professor Selth is planning to create a scholarship named after Mr Dimmock.

“As we all know, the funding situation for medical research is so tight at the moment so without the funds that are raised by Angie and Alyce and their amazing group of friends, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do,” Professor Selth said.

“But it goes way beyond the money … talking to people like Angie and Dean really rams home the importance of why we’re doing this research.”

To help the Doing It For Dean City-Bay fundraising efforts go to citybay24.grassrootz.com/flinders-foundation/doing-it-for-dean

The Luminary City-Bay Fun Run is on September 15. Register at city-bay.org.au