Marci Peters is grateful for the care she received after not one but two brain surgeries.

As a working single mom, the last thing Marci Peters needed was a medical mystery. So, when she noticed a lump the size of a goose egg on her forehead, she went to her family doctor in her search of answers, X-rays and other scans were inconclusive.

Marci was losing hope. That’s when Sunnybrook came into the picture.

Finding solutions

Marci was referred to Dr. Oleh Antonyshyn at Sunnybrook. Dr. Antonyshyn is one of Sunnybrook’s most esteemed craniofacial plastic surgeons in the Blake & Belinda Goldring Department of Surgery.

When Dr. Antonyshyn saw the lump, he immediately ordered new tests, including a CT scan and an MRI. He had his answer: it was a meningioma, the most common type of primary brain tumour. It occurs in the outer three layers of tissue between the skull and the brain and is typically benign but can have serious complications. It was established that the meningioma was a result of the radiation therapy she received as a part of her successful treatment for childhood leukemia.

Bringing together the best people

Diagnosing Marci’s concern was just the first step on the path toward finding a solution. Which is when Dr. Antonyshyn’s colleague Sunnybrook neurosurgeon Dr. Leo da Costa stepped in. He works in Sunnybrook’s Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program, with team members that supported Marci’s care, including Dr. Houman Khosravani, a neurologist in the stroke clinic, and Dr. Arun Sundaram, a neuro-ophthalmologist.

Working together, Marci’s care team decided surgery was necessary. She underwent her first craniotomy in August 2021, a complex procedure where Dr. da Costa temporarily removed part of the bone for her skull to access and resect the tumour. Next, Dr. Antonyshyn used his skills to place a titanium mesh implant on Marci’s forehead to cover the surgical site.

Meningiomas can cause concerns for patients by elevating pressure in the brain, and recovery can be long and arduous. But thanks to the skill, dedication and strong collaboration between Dr. Antonyshyn and Dr. da Costa, Marci was only in hospital for five days, recuperating under the supervisions of what she calls “the most amazing group of people I have ever had the privilege of being cared for.”

“Every single person – from my nurses, to housekeeping, to the patient transportation team, the caring people who brought me my meals, my occupational and physical therapist – was so kind and helpful,” says Marci. “I’ll never forget that, because it felt like everyone was committed to helping me recover.”

Marci Peters and her daughter.

Back on her feet

Team Sunnybrook is a big reason why, barely three weeks after surgery, Marci was back at work as a senior customer-relations professional and home with her daughter.

And it’s why the next year, when another meningioma tumor was discovered behind her right eye, that Marci knew exactly where to go.

Marci’s second craniotomy in November 2022 was another complete success, which she credits again to every member of Team Sunnybrook. “Everyone works together so seamlessly,” says Marci. “It’s like everyone speaks the same language.”

There was one moment Marci recalls where the nursing team gently washed her hair after surgery, combing it back to help Marci feel more like herself. “This is what compassionate care feels like,” she says. “It never felt like I was just another patient.”

It wasn’t easy undergoing two craniotomies in a little over a year, but today Marci says she feels ready to face anything. She’s grateful, too, knowing Sunnybrook, “the gold standard in compassionate care” is right behind her.

Learn more at sunnybrook.ca/brain.

The post Sunnybrook saved my life – twice appeared first on Your Health Matters.

In the early stages of these devastating diseases, symptoms may be subtle. Individuals may be more forgetful than usual or have trouble learning new things.

As their disease progresses, they experience greater cognitive difficulties and memory loss. They may lose their ability to find their way home, to pay bills, to read, write or complete everyday tasks. They may exhibit confusion, erratic behaviour and personality changes. Eventually, they may no longer recognize their loved ones.

This loss of cognitive functioning is a reality for the estimated 600,000 Canadians living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Since age is a leading risk factor and our population is aging, that number is expected to climb to more than 1.7 million by 2050, meaning there is a growing and urgent need for therapeutic options.

Having witnessed the ravages of these diseases in countless patients, renowned Canadian neurologist Dr. Sandra Black now sees a light at the end of the tunnel.

In fact, it’s an exciting time to be working in the field, she says.

“We could be entering a whole new era,” says Dr. Black, senior scientist and director of The Dr. Sandra Black Centre for Brain Resilience and Recovery at Sunnybrook Research Institute.

“We may be very close to having some treatments for Alzheimer’s disease that would be disease-modifying,” she says. “I hope we’re going to be in a similar situation as what happened in acute stroke, which has been transformed into a treatable condition if caught early enough and is often preventable if risk factors are managed.”

During her nearly 40-year career, Dr. Black has been at the forefront of advances in understanding and treating stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. One of the country’s most accomplished scientists, Dr. Black has received numerous awards for her work, including being appointed as an Officer to the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario.

With more than 600 publications to her name, Dr. Black is renowned clinically and scientifically in Canada and is an influential leader and collaborator in international initiatives.

As the inaugural scientific director of the Dr. Sandra Black Centre for Brain Resilience and Recovery at Sunnybrook Research Institute, Dr. Black leads some of the top minds in stroke, Alzheimer’s and dementia research. Now, as life-changing therapies for these pernicious disorders are becoming available, the leading-edge work she and her colleagues are doing is especially important.

A life-long desire to help others

Dr. Black helped usher in the modern era of stroke care. During her training, stroke was still a “dead-end” disease, she says. But in the 1990s, as the first woman to head a division of neurology in Canada, she made sure that Sunnybrook was among the first Canadian hospitals to implement the revolutionary clot-busting medication tPA.

“Gradually, the need to treat early led to important system changes in Ontario and other provinces and a whole new way to change the future of stroke,” she says.

Recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, Dr. Black hopes to see the same progress happen in dementia prevention and treatment.

“As we get into what I think is going to be a transformative period in our field, my dream is that we will have treatments for Alzheimer’s disease that are disease-modifying and meaningfully slow disease progression,” she says. “We are very close to that now with a number of promising ongoing clinical trials.”

Dr. Black inherited her desire to help others while growing up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Her father was a physician. Her mother, who was a community activist supporting social services and promoting music and the arts, was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 1985. Dr. Black and her three siblings (two physicians and a choral director and teacher) are similarly motivated, she says. “Our parents modelled duty of care.”

In fact, Dr. Black’s prestigious research career grew out of her work as a physician caring for people with stroke, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other degenerative nervous system diseases.

“I do what’s called research embedded in care, [which means] learning from patients by studying them as consenting partners and correlating behavioural patterns with changes in the brain seen on imaging, now enhanced by advances in genetics and blood biomarkers,” she says.

This concept was the genesis of the landmark Sunnybrook Dementia Study of more than 1600 patients, which contributed to developing international consensus criteria for Alzheimer’s and several different types of dementia. This study has proven to be valuable to other researchers in the field, generating and contributing to more than 190 peer-reviewed publications in highly regarded international journals.

As a teacher and mentor, Dr. Black has also nurtured the talents of dozens of scientists and researchers. Her prowess in this area has earned outstanding mentorship awards from U of T’s Institute of Medical Sciences and department of medicine.

Dr. Jennifer Rabin

Dr. Jennifer Rabin, a neuropsychologist and scientist in the Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation and also the Dr. Sandra Black Centre for Brain Resilience and Recovery in Sunnybrook’s Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program, says she returned to Toronto from Harvard Medical School in part “because it’s the home of Dr. Sandra Black.”

Dr. Rabin credits her colleague with helping guide her through the complicated process of setting up her own research program, where she is currently studying dementia risk factors in people of South and East Asian origin. Dr. Black is “a luminary in the field, and also the warmest and nicest person you will ever meet,” says Dr. Rabin. “No matter how busy she is, she will always find the time for you.”

Dr. Maged Goubran

Dr. Maged Goubran is a Sunnybrook scientist who specializes in medical biophysics, computational neuroscience and artificial intelligence (AI). Since joining Dr. Black’s lab as a research associate from Stanford University, he has become one of her close collaborators, applying machine learning techniques to quantify magnetic brain imaging data in correlation with cognitive deficits and outcomes. These AI models are “trained” using patient data meticulously collected and processed as part of the Sunnybrook Dementia Study and can give key regional brain measures in a matter of minutes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever worked with anyone who has the same level of dedication, genuine care and support for her trainees and patients,” says Dr. Goubran. “It’s so inspiring.”

A new hub for multidisciplinary expertise

As a lifelong proponent of collaboration and cooperation, Dr. Black has high hopes for what will be accomplished at Sunnybrook’s under-construction Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre, a state-of-the-art facility for patient care and research that is quite unique in Canada.

In bringing together experts across disciplines – from Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, dementia and stroke to mental health and mood disorders – the Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre will be well positioned to develop the next generation of novel treatments, she says. “By housing our clinics and some research space together in one building, it will allow us to interact more often and more closely.”

Dr. Black points out that “none of this would have been possible without philanthropy.” While the active industry-sponsored trials cover their costs, donations are needed to help support the teams needed for numerous investigator-driven studies that are typically underfunded.

“For example, philanthropic donation to our cognitive neurology unit allowed us to accelerate the development of our very unique, personalized brain imaging pipeline,” she adds.

With so many promising developments happening at Sunnybrook in the field of dementia research right now, philanthropy is more crucial than ever, says Dr. Black. She’s encouraged by the generosity of those who are supporting the Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre and the work she and her team are doing at the Dr. Sandra Black Centre for Brain Resilience and Recovery.

It’s the kind of work that could be life-changing for thousands of Canadians in the years to come.

“I think donors [appreciate] the optimism I have about the future,” she says. “I’m still very active, and we’ve attracted some brilliant young leaders in the fields of stroke and cognitive and movement disorders, some early and mid-career and others still in training, poised to become very talented, next-generation clinicians and research scholars.”

To learn more on how you can support Sunnybrook’s Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre and help invent the future of brain health, visit Sunnybrook.ca/brain

The post ‘A whole new era:’ Why we may be getting closer to treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias appeared first on Your Health Matters.

No one could explain Darryl Fontanna’s extreme dizzy spells until he was diagnosed with a functional neurological disorder (FND) at Sunnybrook.

What started as a friendly sparring match with a friend led to years of disabling neurological symptoms for Toronto resident Darryl Fontanna, now 29.

“I was boxing with my buddy for fun,” says Darryl. “I was 21 [years old].”

The two friends had donned boxing gloves and playfully exchanged some jabs and punches in an open field. Although no acute injury occurred that he was aware of, Darryl awoke the next morning with head pressure and impaired vision. “I could barely even think,” he recalls.

It got much worse. As the months wore on, Darryl began to suffer from extreme dizzy spells, insomnia, fatigue, brain fog and severe anxiety attacks. He was diagnosed with post-concussive syndrome, a condition that can occur after a brain injury and typically resolves over months. But though Darryl’s neurological tests all came back normal, his symptoms didn’t go away. He withdrew from his friends, could no longer work and spent days bedridden.

“There was a period where all I could do was lay on my couch and stare at the ceiling,” he says.

After getting no answers from traditional medicine and spending more than $10,000 on unhelpful alternative treatments over seven years, Darryl came across an online discussion. His symptoms matched perfectly with a disorder called persistent postural perceptual dizziness (PPPD), a functional neurological disorder (FND) characterized by a disruption in brain circuits that can be treated.

PPPD often occurs after an injury to the balance system, causing the brain to overreact to normal signals from the eyes, inner ear and muscles and joints. This causes the individual to feel long-lasting dizziness and unsteadiness.

“That’s when all the pieces started falling into place,” says Darryl. He was referred to Dr. Matthew Burke, a cognitive neurologist in Sunnybrook’s Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program.

That first day he saw Dr. Burke for a video consultation in May 2020, Darryl sensed he was coming to the end of a long, confusing and emotionally-draining search for answers. After a lengthy assessment, Dr. Burke confirmed that many of his symptoms could indeed be explained by FND.

“It was such a relief,” Darryl says. “He told me: ‘It is possible to get better.’”

Darryl works out regularly, which helps keep his focus off his symptoms.

A collaborative approach to treat brain disorders

At Sunnybrook’s Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre, top brain health experts will come together to provide care for patients like Darryl. The Centre, which is currently under construction, will employ an innovative, collaborative approach to diagnosing and treating the most complex brain conditions, bringing together psychiatrists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, ophthalmologists, otologists and other experts in brain sciences.

Thanks to the ongoing and generous support of donors, Sunnybrook’s community of world-leading experts will collectively focus on developing transformative approaches to brain disorders including mental illness, dementia and stroke, as well as neuropsychiatric conditions like FND.

“The major brain afflictions of our time – mood disorder, stroke and dementia – are all interrelated,” says Dr. Anthony Levitt, psychiatrist and chief of the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program.

“So it makes sense for us to understand and treat them with meaningful collaboration between specialties that have previously functioned separately and in silos.”

The Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre will house the Harquail Centre for Neuromodulation, where clinicians will employ focused ultrasound (FUS), a revolutionary and less-invasive image-guided therapy that can influence faulty brain circuits. FUS is in clinical trials to treat conditions such as severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder. Also housed in the Centre will be leading-edge facilities for treating mental illness and sleep disorders, as well as multidisciplinary clinics where research will impact outpatient care for stroke, ALS, traumatic brain injury and more.

Dr. Burke is enthusiastic about the Centre’s collaborative and exploratory approach – essential for treating poorly understood disorders of the brain. With a large multidisciplinary team in a state-of-the-art facility, the experts at the Centre are able to investigate and develop novel treatments that are individualized to each patient’s needs.

Dr. Burke says that many of his patients are relieved to finally have their perplexing and disabling symptoms validated and explained, having previously been told their illness is all in their head.

“Functional neurological disorders [are often] hard to wrap your head around and stigmatized,” he says.

Dr. Matthew Burke says that people with FND are often relieved to have a diagnosis, having been told their symptoms are all in their head.

New hope for patients

Dr. Burke notes that many FNDs are triggered by a physical injury or infection, introducing the brain to new symptoms. Even after the trigger has cleared up, dysfunctional brain circuits can amplify these symptoms, causing them to become worse, which in turn lead to anxiety and insomnia, further compounding the problem. The patient then enters a hypervigilant state, where they feel every sensation and symptom very keenly and hyperfocus on the symptoms they’re experiencing.

“It becomes a vicious cycle,” says Dr. Burke.

The new Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre will be instrumental in tackling these kinds of disorders, he says. As researchers increasingly make connections between the brain, mental health and physical health, there is a need to bring researchers and clinicians together from a diverse range of specialties together in one place.

For his part, Darryl is excited by the prospect of the new facility, noting that it will help educate patients and their families about how disorders like his emerge and how best to treat them.

“It will make FNDs more mainstream – currently there is so little support,” he says. He’s also excited about so many different brain specialties coming together under one roof, to help doctors find additional ways of more efficiently and accurately diagnosing conditions.

With the help of Dr. Burke and the Sunnybrook team, Darryl has made a lot of progress over the past few years. Through physiotherapy, medication to lift his mood and psychological therapy, he’s learning how to control the sensations in his body. In addition to FND, he was also diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, a condition linked to anxiety.

Now, he works out regularly – a pursuit that he says helps to keep his focus off his symptoms. He has resumed working as an electrical apprentice and he can drive again.

“It’s a huge change,” Darryl says.

Dr. Burke notes that the field of functional neurological disorders can be very challenging as it falls into “grey zones” between neurology and psychiatry that have largely been understudied in medicine.

“However, cases like Darryl’s are extremely rewarding and provide strong motivation to continue the work needed to improve the care for these complex patients,” he says.

Learn more at sunnybrook.ca/brain.

This story was produced by the Globe Content Studio with the Sunnybrook Foundation and was originally published in the Globe and Mail online.

The post After years of perplexing symptoms, Darryl finally got an answer – and relief appeared first on Your Health Matters.

Then the pandemic hit. Unexpectedly, the work slowed and eventually stopped. Allisa found she had time to reflect on her life and some terrible memories and emotions she had blocked began to surface.

She realized she had been keeping busy with work to numb the pain from repressed trauma, sexual abuse and violence. Allisa says her emotions began spiralling out of control. She knew she needed help but says it was incredibly difficult to find.

After a month of researching online, emailing and calling various organizations, someone recommended that she contact Sunnybrook’s Family Navigation Project (FNP).

Developed by families in collaboration with Sunnybrook experts, FNP is a free service that pairs youth aged 13 to 26 who have mental health and/or addictions challenges, and their families, with clinically trained navigators who connect them with the services they urgently need.

After reaching out to her FNP navigator, Allisa was connected with a therapist who specialized in cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and had the experience to match her unique needs.

Following her first call with her new therapist, Allisa broke down in tears of relief because she knew that she had found someone who could finally help her. And not only did her FNP navigator find a therapist for her, but she continues to check in on Allisa on a regular basis.

Allisa says that having her navigator by her side through her journey of recovery “feels like having a guardian angel.”

FNP is funded entirely by RBC Race for the Kids and other generous donors.

This is the 10th anniversary of RBC Race for the Kids in Toronto which has raised more than $18 million for FNP. Thanks to the support of race participants and the donor community, thousands of youth and their families have found the mental health services they need.

While Allisa realizes she will need to continue to work on her mental health, she is feeling positive about her future.

“I felt incredibly lost before connecting with FNP but since that first call, I have been moving forward and living life more positively. I’m grateful to RBC Race for the Kids and to donors for supporting FNP which makes it possible for youth to find help.”

RBC Race for the Kids takes place September 17 at Mel Lastman Square and virtually. To register or donate click here.

The post Allisa finds the specialized mental health care she needs appeared first on Your Health Matters.

The testing showed Bev’s cancer was a match, which meant that instead of chemotherapy and its many side effects, her treatment consists of a single daily pill. “I’m benefiting from scientific advancements and leading a high-quality life,” says the retired nurse and wealth management advisor.

But Bev’s acutely aware that that’s not the case for everyone. She’s advocating for regular screening tests for lung cancer akin to those currently offered for breast, colon and prostate cancer. “I have a sense of responsibility to help those who aren’t benefiting from science,” she says.

That means reaching out to her friends and loved ones to raise awareness and support for lung cancer care and research at Sunnybrook. In 2019, Bev collected nearly $3,000 in donations in lieu of retirement gifts. She added another $24,000 in 2020 through a power walking campaign tied to the virtual Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. But she didn’t stop there.

In 2021, she organized Crush it with Bev! The golf tournament “crushed” its $150,000 goal with more than $180,000 in foursome sales, personal donations and corporate sponsorships. The funding was used to purchase a specialized tool for lung cancer biomarker testing. The Ion Chef instrument allows Sunnybrook’s doctors to test tumour samples faster and with greater accuracy.

This year’s golf tournament will support clinical research to test the efficacy of liquid biopsy, a minimally invasive test that detects fragments of cancer cells (biomarkers) circulating in the bloodstream.

Bev is committed to being an advocate for lung cancer at Sunnybrook and says she is putting her community on notice that there’s more to be done. “I’d be ecstatic to hit the million-dollar mark over my lifetime!”

The post Bev Moir is ‘crushing it’ for cancer research appeared first on Your Health Matters.

Odette Cancer Research Program scientist William Tran, MRT(T), PhD, set out to evaluate and improve care for women with breast cancer who undergo neoadjuvant chemotherapy to shrink their tumour ahead of surgery.

“Our overall goal was to see if we could predict the tumour’s response to chemotherapy. If we can better understand that, we could potentially empower our clinicians to adapt each patient’s therapy based on their risk of being either chemotherapy-resistant or chemotherapy-responsive,” he explains.

Donor support enabled the purchase of a digital pathology system, which is capable of mapping breast tissue samples and producing an intricate depiction of the tumour’s biology in just a few hours – but only with the patient data to power it.

Looking to the past to invent the future of pathology

To deliver on that piece of puzzle, Dr. Tran partnered with Dr. Fang-I Lu. The Sunnybrook pathologist and member of the Anatomic Pathology team knew that the key to precision oncology was to gather data from past breast biopsies to inform the development of a predictive algorithm.

“Think of digital pathology like a self-driving car that is capable of recognizing other cars and pedestrians on the road,” she says. “The more roads the self-driving car goes on, the smarter it gets. In much the same way, the more data we feed into the digital pathology system, the better equipped it is to recognize cancer’s many features.”

Dr. Lu and Dr. Tran began the arduous process of digging through Sunnybrook’s archived files, searching for the thousands of patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy since the program’s inception in 2019.  Dr. Lu’s quest for breast biopsy samples even took her deep into the hospital’s basement archives.

The largest tumour biobank of its kind in Canada

From a cohort of 1,200 patients, they amassed 485 tumour samples – the largest collection of its kind in the country.

“We were able to extract these samples, look at the digital slides and then evaluate clinical and pathological characteristics that then became pivotal in training the digital pathology system,” says Dr. Tran.

This initial “training phase” laid the foundation for much of the groundbreaking work Dr. Tran and his colleagues are conducting today.

Together with Sunnybrook medical oncologist Dr. Kasia Jerzak, Dr. Tran is testing the ability of the digital pathology system to find biomarkers and assess treatment response for very aggressive and locally advanced breast cancers – a step that he says can be completed in one-third of the time of the previous manual screening and analysis process. An accelerated timeline has the ability to both reduce stress for patients awaiting test results and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of personalized treatment planning and delivery.

A pathologist’s powerful ally

For Dr. Lu, the possibilities are game-changing. “In so many instances now, the computer is outperforming pathologists. It can even recognize features that can’t be seen with the naked eye. For pathologists like me, digital pathology is a powerful ally. It’s another set of eyes constantly checking and complementing my work.”

One of the team’s biggest priorities is to uncover the biomarkers associated with what medical oncologists call a “complete pathologic response,” the complete eradication of the tumour cells within the breast and surrounding lymph nodes. Research has shown a correlation between complete pathologic response and long-term survival.

Again, Dr. Lu has proved pivotal to much of this work.

“After we built the artificial intelligence framework, we invited her to look at our models and assess whether or not they were feasible,” explains Dr. Tran.

The team was recently awarded a $250,000 grant from the New Frontiers in Research Fund (Canadian Tri-Agency Organizations) to further refine the algorithm toward a goal of introducing it into clinical practice within the next year. Donor support was a key part of that successful application, providing the leverage the researchers needed to secure the federal government grant.

Says Dr. Tran: “We couldn’t do this work without our dedicated donors. Donor support is ensuring Sunnybrook continues to lead in this emerging and exciting field.”

The post Using the combined powers of AI and philanthropy to improve cancer treatment planning appeared first on Your Health Matters.

It took him about five seconds, he says, to decide he wanted to use his diagnosis to make a difference. But he also knew he couldn’t wage the battle alone.

During ALS Awareness Month last June, Mark rallied the support of his former NHL teammates and members of the sport media community. Thirty-three hockey greats, including former Toronto Maple Leaf captains Doug Gilmour, Wendel Clark, Darryl Sittler and Rick Vaive, each recorded a video message on Twitter encouraging people to take a stand in support of ALS research and care.

Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean even waved a “Help Kirts End ALS” t-shirt during Game 7 of the televised playoff match between Toronto and the Montreal Canadiens. “The reach was enormous,” Mark remembers.

So was the support. In just two months, Mark and “Team Kirts” raised more than $100,000 for Sunnybrook and the ALS Society of Canada. At Sunnybrook, the funds are helping to advance the groundbreaking research of Dr. Lorne Zinman, Mark’s doctor and director of Sunnybrook’s ALS Clinic. Among many projects, Dr. Zinman is preparing to launch a world-first clinical trial testing the effectiveness of focused ultrasound in the delivery of a promising ALS therapeutic. The non-surgical technique has been shown to safely and temporarily open the blood-brain barrier, the cluster of cells that protects the brain from dangerous substances while also denying potential therapies access.

Knowing he has Dr. Zinman, so many friends and his beloved family – who Mark says are “my everyday heroes and have become the extension of me as I have weakened” – on his team only makes the husband and father of three want to fight even harder to change the course of the disease.

“I’m going to keep pushing,” Mark says. “Team Kirts isn’t done yet. We’re not done until there’s a breakthrough.”

The post How former NHL player Mark Kirton is using his ALS diagnosis to make a difference appeared first on Your Health Matters.

Sunnybrook Foundation’s new President and CEO Kelly Cole has hit the ground running since she began her role in November 2020. Kelly brings a wealth of experience to guide the team, having previously served as Vice-President, University Advancement at Western University, as well as President and CEO of West Park Healthcare Centre Foundation. Alongside her expertise, she also brings her genuine enthusiasm for becoming a Sunnybrooker.

We asked Kelly to share her first impressions of Sunnybrook, thoughts on the year ahead and a few insights into her personality. Read on for more from our conversation.

What are you most excited to take on in your new role at the Sunnybrook Foundation?

What excites me most is working with donors. I love that part of the job. I love hearing their stories, understanding their interests and passions, learning how they are trying to make a difference – and then finding that perfect point of intersection between the Hospital’s needs and what the donor’s interests and cares are.

I’m looking forward to getting to know more of the donors and the different areas of the Hospital, and bringing those two together for great impact.

Now that you have been in your role for the past few months, what has stood out to you? Has anything surprised you?

It’s a very interesting time to join an organization in the midst of a global crisis. You get to see people at their best, and in this case for us it is really our best.

During the interview process, I had a strong sense of the spirit of the people that make up Team Sunnybrook. I’ve been overwhelmed by people’s support of each other and the way that they have come together as a team; their collaboration toward a common purpose – I see it both in the Hospital and in the Foundation. And the team and the Foundation Board of Directors have been so welcoming.

It’s also been remarkable to see how Sunnybrook has been adapting and innovating in response to COVID-19. A great example is the new Virtual Emergency Department, which allows patients with a non-life-threatening health concern to book an appointment with an emergency room physician over Zoom. It’s just so inspiring to see all the ways Sunnybrook teams come together to improve care while keeping patients and staff safe.

What is the role of the Sunnybrook Foundation, and how does philanthropy directly impact patient, family and community outcomes at Sunnybrook?

The role of the Foundation is to support the mission and vision of the Hospital, full stop. We exist to support what the Hospital is trying to accomplish.

We do that by building up a really strong community of donors and volunteers. Our role is to connect that community to the institution, but also to each other to create a sense of belonging and engagement. If we do that well, then the support comes, because our donors get to know the organization and understand how they can make an impact.

The Foundation Board of Directors are so vital to this process, and it has been encouraging to see how connected they have remained throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Can you share some examples of what donors are enabling the Hospital to do?

While I’m still in my early days at Sunnybrook, I have already encountered a range of what our donors are supporting at all different levels.

We’ve had a great response from donors toward our COVID-19 efforts and ensuring the Hospital has the right resources: whether that’s helping to provide educational opportunities, supporting research initiatives, or contributing to personal protective equipment (PPE) and other equipment like iPads so that patients can connect with their families.

Even over the holidays, there were a few donors reaching out to see how they could support the resiliency of our staff. That really speaks to the understanding and commitment of our donors to Sunnybrook when they reach out and say, “What can I do to help right now?”

There’s also immense support for projects such as the Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre, the Family Navigation Project for youth mental health, our electrophysiology suites in the Schulich Heart Program, the technology and infrastructure to support personalized care at the Odette Cancer Centre – and so much more to advance the way we deliver care. It’s so inspiring to see this type of investment in the Hospital and the impact that donors are having on health-care delivery now and into the future.

What lessons or insights do you bring from your previous role as Vice-President, University Advancement?

Hospitals and universities are both complex organizations. And in these types of institutions, building partnerships with teams across the organization is critically important for us to be successful. At Western University, our engagement with deans, professors and leaders helped to articulate issues and needs as well as their passion and vision to donors.

Similarly, Sunnybrook Foundation’s relationships with Hospital leaders and individuals delivering care is essential to driving philanthropy to the institution. We can’t do it alone, and that partnership is so very important. It’s about the whole team working together for fundraising.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

I don’t have one greatest achievement when it comes to work. Everything that I have accomplished I have done with a team. There have always been people supporting me from all directions, volunteers included. Possibly my greatest achievement is building thriving, successful teams.

In my personal life, certainly I would say my kids, together with my spouse, Jeff. I have two wonderful kids and they are bright, caring, loving individuals, and I hope that I’ve shaped them to be that.

As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes widely distributed, what are you most looking forward to enjoying that may have been on hold during the pandemic?

I can’t wait until I can sit face-to-face with donors. There are a number of donors to Sunnybrook who live in the neighbourhood – and wouldn’t it be fabulous to pop over for a cup of coffee and get to know them a little better, and understand their connections with the institution and what they’re trying to accomplish with their philanthropy.

Equally, I miss the daily banter inside the office with the team. There is something you miss in Zoom meetings, like some of the humour that comes when you’re live – on Zoom, it’s really hard to be funny! A huge part of my job is building relationships, and I really miss it. I’m looking forward to that.

On a personal note, just having people over for dinner would be lovely.

Now, for five rapid-fire questions to get to know you better:

• What was the best book you read in 2020? Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• Best show you watched in 2020? Schitt’s Creek
• Who would you most like to invite to dinner? My family. We have an extended family of about 24 people, and we’re used to getting together maybe three or four times per year, which we haven’t done since the pandemic arrived.
• What’s your top travel destination once we are able to travel more regularly? We were to go on a safari in Kruger National Park in South Africa and Chobe National Park in Botswana with my two kids who have graduated from university as one last trip together. I’m hoping we still get to do it.
• What three words would you use to describe yourself? Kind, persistent, collaborator. 

Our thanks to Kelly for sitting down with us to share her insights, reflections and hopes for the year ahead. We are delighted to welcome her to the Sunnybrook Foundation!

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This spring, Sunnybrook invited photojournalists Ron Haviv and Christopher Morris inside the hospital for an up-close look at the courage, determination and true grit of patients and their medical teams as they defied impossible odds together.

Sunnybrook cares for some of the sickest patients in Ontario. Many of them come to Sunnybrook looking for care they can’t find elsewhere.

Every patient has a story to tell, and so too do the medical teams who care for them. Every story is different, but each has something in common: courage. For patients, it’s the grit to face their toughest days without turning back.

For friends and family, it’s the resilience to push ahead when they can’t imagine taking another step. For hospital staff and researchers, it’s the determination and the tenacity to keep searching for a solution despite impossible odds.

A new campaign offers a glimpse into these stories through the lenses of photojournalists Ron Haviv and Christopher Morris. Renowned for their ability to capture the human cost of war on the frontlines, they brought the same sensitivity and skill to document the human moments that happen every day on the front lines at Sunnybrook.

Featured on these pages are just some of the stories of courage that Haviv and Morris witnessed. What is not immediately apparent in the photos is the importance of private investment – philanthropy that makes life-saving medical advances possible. From treating brain disease with sound waves instead of a scalpel, to novel procedures that eliminate the need for open-heart surgery, to game-changing radiation technologies that target tumours with pinpoint precision, generous donors assist Sunnybrook to bring first-in-the-world procedures to patients.

In showing the human side of such breakthroughs, this campaign hopes to inspire more people to give because donor generosity helps the staff at Sunnybrook be there for patients and their loved ones when it matters most.

View the campaign: Where Impossible Becomes I’m Possible.

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“At first, there was tremendous fear, confusion and anger. But mostly fear that suddenly the word ‘cancer’ had appeared in my vocabulary,” says Bastiaan.“I had a feeling that my life was not going to be as long as I thought it was, and that I might not have all that much time left with the wife and son I so deeply love.”

Sunnybrook’s prostate cancer experts helped calm that fear by moving quickly, surgically removing Bastiaan’s prostate gland and then treating him with radiation.

Bastiaan returned to his daily life, hopeful that his experience with prostate cancer was over. And it was, for six years, until his PSA level began to rise, prompting him to begin hormone therapy, which blocks the male hormones that contribute to prostate cancer growth.

Two years later, a regular imaging scan revealed cancer had spread to a lymph node in Bastiaan’s pelvis.

The news was devastating. Bastiaan faced a choice: have his pelvic lymph nodes surgically removed or undergo a leading-edge radiation treatment, called stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), that would target the lymph node with a powerful and precise dose of radiation.

The Odette Cancer Centre is one of just a few centres in Ontario with the expertise and equipment to offer SBRT and a global leader in advancing and expanding the use of SBRT.

Because of SBRT’s power and precision, Bastiaan could be treated in just five sessions, much less than the 30 sessions of conventional radiation he received following his surgery.

“I feel very honoured and blessed that SBRT was available to me,” Bastiaan says.

“It was such a relief because it was two weeks and a day and then it was done. And here I am: I’m driving my motorcycle, playing piano and spending time with the people I love.”

With Sunnybrook, “there’s a sense that it’s on a constant quest to do leading-edge research that will feed its ability to develop new treatments that are even more effective, and make a patient live longer and more comfortably,” Bastiaan says.

“I feel so much gratitude for what Sunnybrook and its people have done for me.”

The post Targeted treatment helped stop patient’s spreading cancer appeared first on Your Health Matters.