Donna Deegan
Encyclopedia
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.
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
. 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.
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.
showed a small "suspicious" lesion
in her lower left lung
. 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
.
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:
When Donna first joined WTLV her on-air name was Donna Clewis.
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.
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.
Breast cancer awareness
Breast cancer awareness is an effort to raise awareness of breast cancer and reduce the disease's stigma by educating people about its symptoms and treatment options...
advocate, and weekday television anchor, alongside Jeff Marcu and Shannon Ogden
Shannon Ogden
Shannon Ogden is currently a weekday anchor, alongside Jeannie Blaylock and Donna Deegan, on First Coast News at WTLV/WJXX in Jacksonville, Florida. Ogden co-anchors the weeknight 5, 6, and 11 p.m. newscasts of First Coast News....
, on First Coast News at WTLV
WTLV
WTLV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Jacksonville, Florida. The station broadcasts a digital signal on VHF channel 13. The station is owned by Gannett as part of a duopoly with the area's ABC affiliate, WJXX. The two stations share studios located on East Adams Street in downtown near...
/WJXX
WJXX
WJXX is the ABC-affiliated television station television for Jacksonville, Florida. The station broadcasts a digital signal on VHF channel 10, identifying via PSIP as virtual channel 25 . The station is owned by Gannett as part of a duopoly with the area's NBC affiliate, WTLV...
in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Deegan co-anchors the weeknight 5:30 and 11 p.m. newscasts of First Coast News.
Donna was raised on the southside of Jacksonville and graduated from Bishop Kenny High School
Bishop Kenny High School
Bishop Kenny High School is a private, college-preparatory, coeducational Catholic high school in Jacksonville, Florida. It is located in and administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine...
in 1979. She holds a BS '84 in Communications from Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
. She is the niece of former Jacksonville mayor Tommy Hazouri.
Donna started her career in 1984 as the morning anchor for WTXL
WTXL-TV
WTXL-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Tallahassee, Florida. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 27 from a transmitter northwest of Monticello, Florida along the state line with Georgia. It can also be seen on Charter channel 3 as well as Mediacom and Comcast...
in Tallahassee
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
. In 1985, she became the West Palm Bureau Chief for WTVX
WTVX
WTVX is the CW-affiliated television station for West Palm Beach, Florida that is licensed to Fort Pierce. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter southwest of Palm City and I-95 in Martin County...
in Fort Pierce
Fort Pierce, Florida
Fort Pierce, also spelled Ft. Pierce, is a city in St. Lucie County, Florida, USA. It is known as The Sunrise City. The population was 37,959 at the 2004 census. As of 2008, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 41,000. It is the county seat of St. Lucie County.Fort Pierce is part...
. She then became the morning and noon anchor for WPEC
WPEC
WPEC is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Gold and Treasure Coasts of South Florida. Licensed to West Palm Beach, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter in Lake Worth along U.S. 441/SR 7. The station is the flagship of Freedom Communications...
in West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
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
WTLV
WTLV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Jacksonville, Florida. The station broadcasts a digital signal on VHF channel 13. The station is owned by Gannett as part of a duopoly with the area's ABC affiliate, WJXX. The two stations share studios located on East Adams Street in downtown near...
. In 1992, she became anchor of the 5:30 and 11 p.m. newscasts on WTLV.
She is a member of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Jacksonville Beach
Jacksonville Beach, Florida
Jacksonville Beach is a city on the Atlantic coast of Duval County, Florida, east of Jacksonville. It is part of the Jacksonville Beaches community, together with Mayport, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, and Ponte Vedra Beach...
. She has two children, Danielle and Drew, from a previous marriage to First Coast News Sports Director
Sports Director
A sports director is an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. In local news, the sports director is typically the station's primary sportscaster, and often anchors the primetime newscasts on weekdays. They are in charge of sports programming and...
, Dan Hicken
Dan Hicken
Daniel Patrick "Dan" Hicken is currently the sports director and weeknight sports anchor for First Coast News on television stations WTLV/WJXX in Jacksonville, Florida...
. She married First Coast News Chief meteorologist
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
Tim Deegan
Tim Deegan (meteorologist)
Timothy William "Tim" Deegan is currently the chief meteorologist for First Coast News on television stations WTLV/WJXX in Jacksonville, Florida...
in 2002.
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.2007 cancer
On September 19, 2007, Donna stated that a CT scanComputed tomography
X-ray computed tomography or Computer tomography , is a medical imaging method employing tomography created by computer processing...
showed a small "suspicious" lesion
Lesion
A lesion is any abnormality in the tissue of an organism , usually caused by disease or trauma. Lesion is derived from the Latin word laesio which means injury.- Types :...
in her lower left lung
Lung
The lung is the essential respiration organ in many air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart...
. A PET scan
Positron emission tomography
Positron emission tomography is nuclear medicine imaging technique that produces a three-dimensional image or picture of functional processes in the body. The system detects pairs of gamma rays emitted indirectly by a positron-emitting radionuclide , which is introduced into the body on a...
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
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
.
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 NewsFirst Coast News
First Coast News can refer to three television stations in Jacksonville, Florida.*WJXX, the ABC affiliate, which brands its news operation as First Coast News along with sister-station WTLV....
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.
When Donna first joined WTLV her on-air name was Donna Clewis.
26.2 with Donna
On June 22, 2006 the Mayo ClinicMayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group specializing in treating difficult patients . Patients are referred to Mayo Clinic from across the U.S. and the world, and it is known for innovative and effective treatments. Mayo Clinic is known for being at the top of...
and The Donna Foundation announced the inaugural run of the 26.2 with Donna: The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer
The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer
The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer, also known as the Breast Cancer Marathon and the 26.2 with Donna, is an annual marathon sporting event held in Jacksonville Beach, Florida...
, 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
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group specializing in treating difficult patients . Patients are referred to Mayo Clinic from across the U.S. and the world, and it is known for innovative and effective treatments. Mayo Clinic is known for being at the top of...
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.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.