 In the last days before she died, she established the Siobhan Dowd Trust to bring the joy of reading to children deprived of access to books. Here are the facts. During the 2005 London Book Fair, fellow author Meg Rozoff spoke of how her battle with breast cancer impacted her writing. After their respective speeches, Rozoff recalls that Dowd leaned over and whispered, I know exactly what you're talking about. I have breast cancer too.