- Donna Deegan
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Donna Deegan 
Donna at a book signing for Through Rose Colored GlassesBorn Donna Elizabeth Hazouri
1961
Jacksonville, Florida, United StatesOccupation Journalist Other names Donna Hicken
Donna ClewisTitle News Anchor Family Yes Spouse(s) Tim Deegan
Dan Hicken (divorced)Children Danielle & Drew Hicken Ethnicity White Religious belief(s) Member of St. Paul's Catholic Church Notable credit(s) Evening Anchor for WTLV/WJXX (with Jeff Marcu at 5:30 and Shannon Ogden at 11 p.m.) Donna Deegan is currently an author, breast cancer awareness advocate, and weekday television anchor, alongside Jeff Marcu and Shannon Ogden, on First Coast News at WTLV/WJXX in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Deegan co-anchors the weeknight 5:30 and 11 p.m. newscasts of First Coast News.[1]
Donna was raised on the southside of Jacksonville and graduated from Bishop Kenny High School in 1979. She holds a BS '84 in Communications from Florida State University.[1] She is the niece of former Jacksonville mayor Tommy Hazouri.
Donna started her career in 1984 as the morning anchor for WTXL in Tallahassee. In 1985, she became the West Palm Bureau Chief for WTVX in Fort Pierce. She then became the morning and noon anchor for WPEC in West Palm Beach where she remained until August 1988. Donna then took the opportunity to return to her native Jacksonville and became the anchor of the weekend broadcasts on WTLV. In 1992, she became anchor of the 5:30 and 11 p.m. newscasts on WTLV.[1]
She is a member of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Jacksonville Beach. She has two children, Danielle and Drew, from a previous marriage to First Coast News Sports Director, Dan Hicken. She married First Coast News Chief meteorologist Tim Deegan in 2002.[1]
Contents
Breast cancer
Donna is a three-time survivor of breast cancer. In 1999, she began her battle, with recurrences occurring in 2002 and 2007. She is the founder of The Donna Foundation, which provides the necessary funds to care for local women living with breast cancer.[1]
2007 cancer
On September 19, 2007, Donna stated that a CT scan showed a small "suspicious" lesion in her lower left lung.[2] A PET scan confirmed the lesion was there, but nothing more was found anywhere in her body. Initially, doctors were uncertain if the lesion was indeed cancer. However, on September 21, 2007, after surgery to remove the lesion, it was confirmed that it was; Donna yet again went under treatment for cancer, including chemotherapy.[3]
Name Change
After her marriage to Tim Deegan, Donna retained her last name of "Hicken" because of her appearance on the local broadcasts. On October 29, 2007, Donna officially changed her name on newscasts to Donna Deegan. This also coincided with a complete change of the First Coast News graphics package.
In a 'Donna's Journal' entry on the First Coast News website dated November 12, 2007 Mrs. Deegan went on to explain the change:
Hello Folks, Donna Deegan here. For those of you who haven't been watching this past week, where've you been? Seriously, if you haven't had the time to tune in, I have changed my name to, well, my name. So many of you have e-mailed to say "Hey Donna, it's about time!" Well, fortunately the station thought so too. Tim and I have been married for more than five years, and I have been Deegan everywhere but on the air since then. So why now? Well, there is no great strategy here. For some time now the station has been putting together a new look for our news opens, graphics etc. That's a big deal and very expensive so it's not done very often. While making those plans they very graciously asked if I would like to change my on-air name. I talked it over with my kids and with Tim and everyone said "go for it" so I did. That simple. The decision had nothing to do with my recent recurrence. It will be fun to see if I can actually call myself the correct name every day. Between chemo and my normal space cadet nature, I think the betting pool is in full swing.[4]
When Donna first joined WTLV her on-air name was Donna Clewis.
26.2 with Donna
On June 22, 2006 the Mayo Clinic and The Donna Foundation announced the inaugural run of the 26.2 with Donna: The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer, benefiting Mayo Clinic and women living with breast cancer.
The inaugural run of the marathon took place on February 17, 2008. A health expo preceded the race. Donna had been questioning whether she could run the whole marathon, but she and husband Tim finished in the middle. Over 7,000 runners showed up to run the race. Donna announced that over $800,000 was raised to benefit the Mayo Clinic and women living with breast cancer. This money was used to help further a plan in which specialized treatment is used, instead of a "one size fits all" treatment.
The second run of the race took place on February 15, 2009. Donna stated in a recent interview that she was hoping the race would be bigger and better than the inaugural, but cited tough economic times as the reason for the same turnout as the prior year's race. She announced a "memorial mile" for a portion of the race, in which people who have struggled with breast cancer will be remembered.
Awards and recognition
During her career, Donna has received many awards including the Jacksonville Business Journal Women of Influence Award in 2004 and the Enterprising Women’s Leadership Award in 2005. Donna is also a published author. Her book, The Good Fight, chronicles her second bout with breast cancer and the on-line journal that she kept during that time.[5]
On October 25, 2007, Donna was honored by Community Connections of Jacksonville at the Omni Hotel. She is the 2007 recipient of the Florence N. Davis Award for Lifetime Achievement.[6]
References
- ^ a b c d e "First Coast News Donna Deegan Bio". First Coast News. http://www.firstcoastnews.com/inside/bios/news-article.aspx?storyid=51573. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
- ^ "Donna's Journal: My Journey Continues". First Coast News. http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=91668. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
- ^ "Cancer Confirmation". First Coast News. http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=91835. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
- ^ Detman, Gary: [1] First Coast News, November 2, 2007, "Donna Deegan: Why the name change?"
- ^ "Donna Deegan Bio". The Donna Foundation. http://breastcancermarathon.com/donnabio.html. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
- ^ "The Celebration of Leadership: a Tribute to Excellence Honors First Coast News Anchor Donna Hicken". First Coast News. http://www.firstcoastnews.com/life/community/news-article.aspx?storyid=87960. Retrieved 2007-10-26.[dead link]
External links
Categories:- American television journalists
- Jacksonville, Florida television anchors
- Breast cancer survivors
- Living people
- People with cancer
- Florida State University alumni
- Bishop Kenny High School alumni
- People from Jacksonville, Florida
- 1962 births
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
