“We were very worried about sending him home,” says Brian Grant, social worker at Sunnybrook’s Reactivation Care Centre. “We discussed long-term care at length, but his wish was to get back home. We wanted to respect that, but we wanted it to be a successful return home.”

The health-care team, aware of his concerns, held regular meetings to discuss his progress and needs. They recognized that John didn’t just want to leave the hospital; he wanted to reclaim his independence and maintain a quality of life in the home that he loved.

It was during this time that Sunnybrook and its community partners launched the Sunnybrook-to-Home program. This program was designed specifically to help patients transition safely back to their homes with the wrap-around support they needed from the day they got home.

“With Sunnybrook-to-Home, there was no need to even consider long-term care anymore,” admits Brian.

After careful planning and coordination with community health providers, John was finally ready to go home. Within 24 hours of arriving, he received comprehensive in-home care services that filled gaps and strengthened the supports he already had in place through primary and community care. His care now encompassed nursing, personal care, meal support, social work, physiotherapy and occupational therapy – all tailored to his specific needs.

“When I came home, I needed more help than I realized,” says John. “I don’t like asking people for help. Before I’d say I don’t need that, but now I’ll take all the help I can get!”

John realized that accepting support didn’t mean losing independence; rather, it could enhance his ability to live at home safely and comfortably.

Grateful to be receiving care at home, and reflecting on his time in hospital, he admits, “I do not want to go back to those places.”

Through regular check-ins, the Sunnybrook-to-Home team and its community partners ensures John is thriving. He learned to appreciate the community of support around him—neighbours and friends who check-in, and the health-care team that remained invested in his well-being.

The post A path back to independence appeared first on Your Health Matters.

She went to her family doctor, followed by x-rays, and a bronchoscopy to look inside her airways. By January 2022, Karen was formally diagnosed with grade 2 neuroendocrine cancer.

While neuroendocrine tumours can occur anywhere in the body, in Karen’s case, hers were in her lymph nodes and gastrointestinal tract.

“I hadn’t had any symptoms, I didn’t even know,” says Karen, who was 48 years old at the time; a sports mom with two teenagers in the house. “I was shocked, I didn’t experience anything, and still haven’t (besides that chest cold discomfort feeling). It never crossed my mind that I may have cancer.”

A clinical trial testing radioligand therapy (RLT)

Upon speaking to her radiation oncologist, Dr. Sten Myrehaug, Karen signed up for a clinical trial to receive radioligand therapy (RLT) as the first course of treatment.

Although neuroendocrine cancer is uncommon, its incidence is rising rapidly and few treatments exist for these patients as this kind of cancer is resistant to most therapies; making it challenging to treat.

RLT involves injecting radioactive isotopes through an IV – in this case, with the drug Lutathera – in order to target specific cancer cell receptors, and deliver more targeted and precise radiation to kill cancer cells while preserving healthy tissue.

While RLT has been used in the treatment of some other cancers in later stages of a patient’s care path, this study evaluated for the first time the use of RLT earlier as a first-line (or “up front”) treatment for patients newly diagnosed with grade 2 or 3 advanced gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumours.

Karen started off on the “standard arm” of the trial with two intramuscular injections – one in each hip – of high-dose long-acting release (LAR) octreotide.  This is used to in order to stop or slow down the progression of tumours.

When one of her tumours started to grow in size, she was then switched to the treatment arm of the trial that offered infusions of the radioactive medication Lutathera.

Treatment took up to 30 minutes, with an IV in each arm, with the rest of the day with anti-nausea medications.

“Besides the nausea, I didn’t have any other side effects, except having to be isolated from my family for a week. I locked myself in my bedroom with my own bathroom. I had my own dishes, everything had to be washed separately, I equipped myself with my laptop and some trash magazines for the week.”

The nausea got better after each treatment and she continued working full time in healthcare administration right through without any symptoms. She finally took six months off last year to “concentrate on me” and has been back to work since October.

Asked if anything has changed for her, Karen says: “I try to walk more than I did in the past, to keep up with healthy living, getting better. Other than that, nothing has changed.”

The results: a game changer in the practice of cancer treatment

Since the multi-site trial closed, the researchers assessed the data and the results were recently published in the journal The Lancet: the RLT that Karen and other participants received showed a reduction of the risk of advanced neuroendocrine tumour progression by 72 per cent.

Karen’s response upon hearing these results? “I couldn’t be happier.”

“The results confirm the clinical benefit of earlier use of RLT for newly-diagnosed patients with these types of aggressive and life-threatening tumours,” says Dr. Simron Singh, global principal investigator of the trial, and medical oncologist and cofounder of the Susan Leslie Clinic for Neuroendocrine Tumours at Sunnybrook’s Odette Cancer Centre.

“Cancer care has traditionally been treated by surgery, drugs or radiation; RLT is a game changer in the practice of cancer treatment. While it’s technically radiation, it is given via a chemotherapy route through the blood until it reaches the precise location of the tumour. This is the next step in personalized targeted cancer therapy for patients, focused on more effectively killing cancer cells, while limiting the damage to surrounding healthy tissues.”

This past March, once she knew it was safe to do so, Karen decided to get a tattoo of boxing gloves with a zebra pattern. The zebra is the awareness symbol for uncommon or rare diseases including neuroendocrine cancers.

“This was about me fighting my cancer. It symbolized for me my strength and just knowing I’m going to beat this and fight through this. It gives me strength.”

Photo credit: Kevin Van Paassen/Sunnybrook

The post The growing fight against rare but challenging cancers appeared first on Your Health Matters.

Following treatment with chemotherapy and radiation, as well as participation in an immunotherapy trial, Vera says she is now living an active and fulfilling life. Acknowledging the many difficult days she’s experienced since her diagnosis, she says she’s also grateful for all the positives cancer has given her.

“My family had immigrated from Russia to Canada about four years before my diagnosis, so I was working like crazy. There was no time to pay attention to my wellness, or the balance between my work and being a wife and mother.” Vera says having cancer made her stop and reconnect with herself. “It was a gift wrapped in barbed wire.”

Vera identifies as a cancer warrior whose family inspired her to fight for herself. “To do that, I had to completely reconsider my values and what was authentic to me.” Coming from parents who were an architect and an artist, Vera now explores her talents as a painter, writer and visual performer. “Once you’ve been given a cancer diagnosis, there’s nothing else in this world that can scare you. I’m more encouraged to now participate in things that prior to cancer, I wouldn’t dare to do.”

As a recent immigrant, Vera says it was her health care team and those helping her through many difficult moments that gave her a sense of community again. “That made me feel like the universe was supporting me. It wasn’t just me against cancer; it was us dealing with that together.”

During one recent visit to Sunnybrook, she recalls seeing a recruitment poster for the Odette Patient and Family Advisory Council (PFAC). This group includes patient and family members who work to improve the experiences of people with cancer. “It was my birthday when I saw the poster, so joining the PFAC was my gift to myself. Now having 10 years of lived experience, it was a natural way to give back to the community.”

When she talks to other patients, Vera advises them to become their own personal Wikipedia. “Educate yourself around your diagnosis and treatment. You are an important member of the health care team.”

For Vera, many people who were on her team seem more like family now. She still has friendships and connections with many of them, and is known as the “Timbit girl” when she visits the Odette Cancer Centre. “Life can be hard, so a little sugar never hurts!”

The post One patient’s story of life after cancer treatment appeared first on Your Health Matters.

When Janice* began to have trouble with her short-term memory, she and her husband became concerned.

“My dad had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in his early 60’s, so I had a pretty good view of what it looked like,” says Janice. “I spoke to my family doctor and was later referred to Sunnybrook.”

Janice, who is now in her mid-seventies, was then assessed by Dr. Sandra Black, renowned cognitive neurologist and Scientific Director of the Dr. Sandra Black Centre for Brain Resilience and Recovery at Sunnybrook Research Institute.

After a series of tests, Janice was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment. The condition is defined when there is a memory problem or other cognitive complaints by the person or their family, but the person is still able to carry out all activities of daily living. MCI can include problems with memory, word finding or way finding, concentration, problem solving insight and judgment.

Dr. Black’s team, which embeds research into care, offered Janice participation in an observational study called the Brain Eye Amyloid Memory (BEAM) study, which provided a detailed eye exam, cognitive testing, mood and daily function questionnaires, and a quantitative brain scan using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET). After participating in BEAM, Janice was found to have amyloid deposits in her brain, and diagnosed with MCI due to early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

Living with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease

For Janice, living with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease means she now relies more heavily on her husband for support, and spends a lot of her time doing whatever she can to slow down the disease.

“We eat a Mediterranean diet, have switched to non-alcoholic wine, and spend time walking outdoors and exercising in our home gym,” says Janice. Previous research suggests that physical activity and exercise have the potential to lessen amyloid buildup in the brain, while also decreasing inflammation. “We also aim to get 7-8 hours of sleep each night.”

Janice knows the importance of staying engaged with friends and keeping her brain stimulated, using apps like Duolingo and Wordle regularly.

“We’re planning a trip to Paris shortly, so I’ve been practicing my French every day.”

Joining a clinical trial

Janice and her husband with Dr. Sandra Black, cognitive neurologist and Scientific Director of the Dr. Sandra Black Centre for Brain Resilience and Recovery at Sunnybrook Research Institute.

As part of her efforts to potentially slow down the disease, Janice enrolled in a pharmaceutical clinical trial at Sunnybrook investigating a potential new antibody therapy aimed at blocking the tau tangle formation that co-occurs with amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease. At the Dr. Sandra Black Centre for Brain Resilience and Recovery, researchers are actively involved in several trials testing biomarkers (including in the blood and eyes), as well as new potentially disease-modifying treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

The trial Janice is participating in is a double-blinded randomized control trial, meaning that she and the research team are unaware if she is receiving a placebo or the experimental therapy, which is currently being tested for efficacy and safety.

“My hope is potential therapies like these will slow down the disease for me or others. You can’t be unrealistic, but you can be hopeful.”

She visits Sunnybrook with her husband each month for an infusion, and is closely monitored by the clinical trials team, which sometimes includes assessments like cognitive testing, brain imaging, EKGs, and blood work as well.

Although she doesn’t know if the infusions are helping her, she remains positive. “If things don’t get too much worse, we could handle it. We’re doing everything we can.”

Janice’s advice for other people facing a similar situation?

“As soon as you notice something is off, try to save yourself and your family by doing everything you can. Don’t try to hide it. [This disease] is not going to go easy on you, but there is a lot you can do — don’t give up.”

The post Clinical trials provide hope for people living with early-stage Alzheimer’s: Janice’s story appeared first on Your Health Matters.

Helena didn’t realize she had a bacterial infection, which had weakened her and caused her fall. A paraplegic since a car accident in 1991, she crawled to the bathroom hoping to use accessibility handles to lift herself up, but she was too weak.

“I wasn’t panicked yet. I thought – okay, I’m tired, I haven’t had have enough sleep, so I pulled down some towels and covered myself to take a nap, thinking I’d have some strength when I woke up.”

She awoke what she thought was a few hours later to hear her friend calling from the front door. Her friend had asked the building manager to unlock the door when she hadn’t been able to reach her, but it was locked from the inside. When her friend said she was going to call the fire department to break down the door, Helena mustered what little strength she had left to crawl to the front door and unlock it, after which she passed out.

I would just see what I have that day … look at what’s around me and try to make up a story. In that limited area, with those limited materials, I just built my own joy.”

She had been on the floor for three and a half days, not a few hours. Doctors later told her that another half a day and she would likely have died. Helena was brought to Sunnybrook Veterans Centre as a community patient, as she fit the criteria for the Centre’s palliative care unit.

“When I got to Sunnybrook, they found I had bacteria in my blood and a very bad pressure sore on my back that was infected. I started to have kidney and liver failure, and the doctors and my family didn’t think I would make it,” recalls Helena.

Helena received a total of seven surgeries, mostly aimed at treating the infection in her spinal cord. She was on an IV drip for six months, getting MRI tests every six weeks to see if the infection was gone.

“I came in on May 3, and I was hoping maybe I could get home for the end of the summer … no, not happening. Then Fall comes and I think maybe I can go see the Fall colours … no, not happening. So then I was crossing my fingers thinking ‘please, please let me go home before Christmas… and I made it.”

A few months into her stay at the Sunnybrook Veterans Centre, Helena was feeling well enough to start taking advantage of the art therapy program. She had shared some photos from a birding trip to Ecuador with some of the nurses and art therapists, and they encouraged her to get creative. Her background is in photography, and she had developed a unique technique of photographing one-inch figurines placed in everyday settings to tell a story. She had her sister bring her ‘little people’ to the hospital and set to work on a new series.

Helena Chu photography series.

“You don’t need a lot … you only need one to do some storytelling. So my dinner, my table, the syringe I used every day, my pic line … unless I was in the garden, 90 per cent of the photos were done from my bed,” says Helena.

Helena’s work was featured in the Sunnybrook Veterans Centre’s Art Show, which happened in mid-November, just after she was able to go home. The series is called Live from K-Wing and subtitled Sunnybrook saved my life. Photography saved my soul. Shot with her iPhone, the images are bright and whimsical, and show no hint at all of the artist’s pain, fear and confinement to a hospital bed.

“I would just see what I have that day … look at what’s around me and try to make up a story. In that limited area, with those limited materials, I just built my own joy,” Helena recalls, adding that she was strongly supported by art therapist Ana Seara.

Helena Chu photography series.

For her part, Ana was delighted to work with Helena.

“All I do in a nutshell is I pay attention to what Helena is coming in with, what she’s feeling, and I offer opportunities. Then we build a relationship and I support her. I never say no. Dream big, and we’ll find a way to make it happen,” says Ana.

Helena still has some recovery ahead of her before she gets back to her passion of photographing birds around the world, which she does with the help of a close friend who is a very knowledgeable birding guide. She shared how his support helped her on her emotional journey.

“After my car accident, I thought everyone’s carrying their own box in their hands, which is their life. My box used to be pretty with jewelry and everything, and that day, somebody robbed me … they took my box and stuck an ugly one in my hand. I can’t give up because this is my life and I’m not brave enough to let go of my box, but I thought it’s an ugly box now, full of worms.”

When she shared this feeling with a psychologist after her accident, he told her that only fertilized land has worms, and if you work hard on it, you can plant something beautiful.

“He’s right and I told my bird guide, ‘you are one of the gems I found under the soil in my box’.”

The post A Creative Soul Proves the Value of Art Therapy appeared first on Your Health Matters.

“I remember the first time I told Chris I had cancer,” recalls Ada. “He was just like ‘ok, you have cancer, we’re going to deal with it and we’re going to continue.’”

She was struck by how Chris seemed to take the news in stride but also by how supportive and positive he reacted.

“I was like, ‘hey, I could die’ and he was like ‘I’m here for you’” says Ada.

After several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation Ada elected to receive a mastectomy followed by still more treatment.

It was around this time that Ada and Chris began to wonder about the possibility of having another child; the couple began to explore fertility treatment. They were told the odds weren’t great: just a five per cent chance of conceiving through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

“Being diagnosed with breast cancer is hard enough,” says Ada who underwent several surgeries under the care of Sunnybrook’s Odette Cancer Centre. “But being told your chances of having children in the future is not possible is probably the toughest pill I’ve ever had to swallow.”

By this point Ada had already endured 16 rounds of chemotherapy, 25 rounds of radiation, 36 rounds of immunotherapy and numerous surgeries.

“I realized I’m already blessed with three beautiful children, if it’s not meant to be that’s ok.”

So when they discovered they were pregnant in the fall of 2021, her and Chris were both ecstatic.

“I was like ‘ok, now what?’” recalls Ada. “…I mean I’m technically still in remission so what does this mean for me – what does this mean for my family?”

On July 30 2022, Ada gave birth to their “miracle baby” Charlotte Ivy Nolan at Sunnybrook. The moment was made even sweeter with baby Charlotte arriving on Ada and Chris’ 13th wedding anniversary.

According to Ada, the unwavering support of her family, coupled with her deep faith, has been the cornerstone of her remarkable resilience and strength.

“My kids are definitely my inspiration (and) my rock,” says Ada.

“I want them to realize life is not fair but how you choose to go on about it is,” says Ada. “Cancer is not a choice – how you choose to deal with it absolutely is.”

Throughout her journey, Ada has received treatment from various care teams at Sunnybrook including the Louise Temerty Breast Cancer Centre, the Odette Cancer Program and the DAN Women & Babies Program and she’s learned a great deal along the way.

And she also has some valuable advice for others who have been diagnosed with cancer.

“It can be intimidating just seeing all these doctors,” Ada acknowledges. “They are the experts and they know the cancer world but the one thing they don’t know is you. That’s why I think that it’s so important that you advocate for yourself.”

The post A Journey of Hope: How Breast Cancer Patient Ada Nolan Overcame the Odds appeared first on Your Health Matters.

As a teen with Down syndrome, she had her fair share of appointments and therapies growing up. But this time was different. She was unrecognizable to herself.

That year, her normally long flowing brown hair started to suddenly and rapidly fall out – a condition known as Alopecia Areata. Although it’s unclear what caused its onset for Jessica, she and her family think it may have been related to an adverse reaction to a medication she had taken.

Despite the traumatic experience of suddenly losing her hair, in particular during her first year of high school, Jessica tried to stay positive. Sunnybrook dermatologist Dr. Perla Lansang worked with Jessica to try various treatments, and eventually helping her to locate an industry clinical trial in 2019 that would work for her as her beautiful hair started to grow back.

Also that year (2019), her father, Joe, had successful heart surgery at Sunnybrook. Jessica was so moved by the care she and her father received. “I am grateful to all the doctors (healthcare workers) that heal everyone who is not feeling well,” says Jessica. “They fixed my Dad’s heart and helped me grow my hair back.”

It was around that time when her mother told her about the artwork she saw on some ceiling tiles “when my dad went in to have a test done on his heart,” says Jessica.

Together, they learned that The Sunnybrook Ceiling Tile Project is a program that decorates the ceilings of the hospital with tiles painted by hospital volunteers, local artists, mature students and patients, and donors sponsor a ceiling tile to brighten the lives of Sunnybrook’s patients, families and staff.

Jessica didn’t skip a beat with this opportunity seemingly designed for her, and her mission was born to thank the care teams who cared for her and her father, by giving back through her art.

“I wanted to show my art this way, so when people looked up, they would say ‘Isn’t that pretty’, and think of their healthcare workers who helped them get better,” she says.

The pandemic postponed things for a while, and in that time, Jessica’s artistry, as well as her advocacy as a public figure for the Down syndrome community, continued to grow, as did her work as a model and actress.

She was thrilled to recently get back to her mission to thank the care teams at Sunnybrook with a goal of also uplifting the spirits of patients as they undergo, or wait, for their medical care.

Using the signature heart design she applies to much of her art, Jessica created two new pieces of artwork for the ceiling tile project: one entitled “Thank You For Your Helping Hands”, and the other called “Love You To Pieces”.

Jessica’s art is silk screened to a tile at Kid Icarus

She recently delivered two of the ceiling tiles to the Dermatology department, located at Sunnybrook’s Bayview campus, where the tiles can be seen brightening the waiting room for patients and their families awaiting their appointments.

Sunnybrook’s manager of Dermatology, Shelley Racicot, receives Jessica’s donation on behalf of the Dermatology team.

“I was so excited and proud when I saw them go up on the ceiling,” says Jessica. “I love that so many people will look up and enjoy my art.”

A tile is installed in the Dermatology waiting area

Since the installation, Jessica’s mother has also received care at Sunnybrook – at the Holland Centre – where she had hip replacement surgery.

Plans are underway to deliver more of Jessica’s art tiles to cardiac surgery at the Bayview campus, as well as orthopaedic surgery at the Holland Centre.

Artist Jessica Rotolo with the two designs she curated for Sunnybrook. #ThisPlaceIsSpecial because our patients give back.

Sunnybrook’s Ceiling Tile Project

The Ceiling Tile Project is a program coordinated by Sunnybrook’s Volunteers and the Gift Shop who arrange for the creation, installation, maintenance and sponsorship of these tiles. Funds raised from sponsorship of the tiles help support patient care and comfort projects at the hospital.

Tile sponsorship starts at $125 and includes a plaque adjacent to the tile identifying the sponsor and a dedication if the sponsor desires it. Tax receipts are issued.

Sponsors can also request a printed card for themselves, friends, or family, displaying the artwork on the tile along with their dedication message, and information about the tile and our program.

Sponsor a ceiling tile

The post Artist honours caregivers while lifting spirits of other patients appeared first on Your Health Matters.

Retinitis Pigmentosa is a genetic form of vision loss. While rare, its impact on day-to-day living can be devastating, especially as symptoms usually start in early childhood. Now, an important advance in gene-based treatment is offering new hope to many patients.

The post Gene-based treatment for Vision Loss appeared first on Your Health Matters.

Sonia Racco was 35 when she gave birth to her first child, a healthy baby girl named Genna.

Twenty months later, Sonia was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I found the lump while I was breastfeeding,” says Sonia, “but I didn’t think it was anything.”

She knew that it was normal for breast tissue to change with pregnancy and breastfeeding. She also knew there was no history of breast cancer in her family, nothing to suggest that she might be one of the thousand or so Canadian women under the age of 40 who are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.

When the lump didn’t go away after a couple of weeks, Sonia went to her family doctor. Her mammogram was worrisome enough for a referral to Sunnybrook’s rapid diagnostic clinic.

“I had the mammogram, the biopsy and the diagnosis within 24 hours,” she recalls. “I kind of knew as soon as they did the biopsy on my breast and under my arm. My husband was a lot more overwhelmed than I was when we got the results,” says Sonia.

“But later, when I got home and I was with my 20-month old calling me mommy, I was completely overwhelmed. There were a lot of very scary moments: ‘What is happening to me? What’s the prognosis?’ All the uncertainty.”

But there was also the Young Women With Breast Cancer (PYNK) Program, Sunnybrook’s support and research program for young breast cancer patients.

Because Sonia was under 40, she immediately qualified for the special care provided by PYNK.

Sonia Racco, pictured with daughter Genna. (Photography by Tim Fraser)

It’s a fact that women diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age have lower survival rates and experience poorer quality of life than women diagnosed when they are older. They experience more physical side effects, depression and fear of the cancer returning.

They often sense that they may be facing mortality early, leading to the worst fear of all for any young parent – not being there to see their children grow up. And if they survive, they’ll be dealing with possible premature menopause and infertility related to treatment.

“We’re taking away their hormones and destroying their libido,” says Dr. Ellen Warner, referring to some of the lesser known side effects of cancer treatment. She had these concerns in mind when she initiated PYNK, a groundbreaking team effort to deal with the complicated issues, including infertility, of young women diagnosed with breast cancer.

“We have a nurse navigator*,” she says. “Our women are getting extra nursing care, but a lot of it is also psychological.”

She cites an example: “We had one young woman who was newly married. Sex became very painful and she would bleed. She was dealing with physical symptoms and psychological stress.”

[mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#2f56a5″ txt_color=”#ffffff”]
The critical issue for a high percentage of these young women − after survival − is fertility[/mks_pullquote]

The young patient, sent into early menopause by the cancer treatment, was experiencing vaginal dryness. Fortunately, there was a simple solution, says Dr. Warner. “She wasn’t using lubricants properly. We also have a counselling program online for these young couples.”

PYNK patients range in age from 17 to 40 years old, with an average age of 35. However, the average woman who gets breast cancer is 61, notes Dr. Warner. For those older women, a breast cancer diagnosis brings with it many questions and concerns.

“But for a younger woman, the questions and concerns can be different. Maybe she’s 30 and single, and she’s thinking, ‘Oh my God. I’m going to lose a breast, never get married, go into menopause, never have a baby.’ Or maybe she has young children, a big mortgage, has to quit work and hire babysitters for appointment and treatment days. Maybe she wanted to have another child.”

The critical issue for a high percentage of these young women − after survival − is fertility. Endocrinologist and infertility specialist Dr. Karen Glass has been part of Dr. Warner’s PYNK team from the beginning, harvesting eggs before chemotherapy, offering in vitro fertilization (IVF) and freezing the fertilized or unfertilized eggs for later implantation.

“For young women with cancer,” says Dr. Glass, “it’s now the completely normal, expected thing to do.”

A focus on breast cancer research

Research has always been a major focus of PYNK. Studies have looked at the uptake of genetic testing among women born outside Canada, what percentage of women wanted prophylactic mastectomies and the relationship between young patients with breast cancer and their mothers.

Sunnybrook’s successful PYNK program is the prototype for a new Canada-wide research project called RUBY (Reducing the Burden of Breast Cancer in Young Women).

Co-sponsored by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and Canadian Institute for Health Research, the four-year study will enroll 1,200 women newly diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40 or younger – including PYNK participants – at 29 sites across Canada.

RUBY will build on the PYNK research model developed at Sunnybrook, collecting blood and tumour samples in addition to detailed clinical data and patient-reported outcomes, which are kept in a special PYNK database. The data collected will include detailed information about their family history and other risk factors, treatment, disease outcome and quality of life.

Dr. Karen Glass advises PYNK program patients of their fertility options, such as freezing eggs, before they go through chemotherapy. (Photography by Doug Nicholson)

“Some of it is hereditary,” says Dr. Warner, “but we don’t really know what causes it (at a young age). It’s all part of the research challenge.” She calls RUBY a “PYNK copycat” on a larger scale.

RUBY encompasses several substudies, including genetic testing for abnormalities that may have caused the cancer, and determining the effect of lifestyle factors on breast cancer recurrence.

Dr. Warner and Dr. Glass are guiding research within RUBY that is intended to encourage referrals of young women with breast cancer by breast surgeons to fertility specialists who specialize in this patient population. They are also working on a study to better predict the effects of cancer treatment on fertility.

“Ultimately, we’re hoping that the research will come up with better treatment, that recurrence rates will drop, and that quality of life will be better for young women with breast cancer,” says Dr. Warner.

While Dr. Warner’s and Dr. Glass’s research is helping create a better future for young women with breast cancer, there’s much joy every time a young breast cancer survivor is able to bring new life into the world because of the PYNK program.

“I just found out today that another PYNK graduate is pregnant,” Dr. Glass says, with a touch of pride.

Five years after her lumpectomy, radiation and chemotherapy, Sonia is now celebrating another milestone; she gave birth to her second daughter, Gia, in July, making her six-year-old Genna a big sister.

“Dr. Glass is incredible,” Sonia says. “One of the first conversations I had after the diagnosis was, ‘Do you want to extend your family?’ She took me through the procedure and was with me every step. It was a comforting experience, how she and Dr. Warner worked together.

“My husband and I decided to freeze embryos. And last winter, we decided, let’s give it a shot. And it took. And everything is going great,” she says. “Having a second child was a hope. A hope of a possibility.”

*In 2023, PYNK changed models from Nurse Navigator to Physician Assistant as the lynchpin of the PYNK program.

The post Breast cancer program supports young women through the ‘complicated issues’ appeared first on Your Health Matters.

It’s one reason people are using Toronto’s Virtual Emergency Department, an online urgent care service that brings together emergency doctors from Sunnybrook and University Health Network.

For Graham Caruana, the decision to seek virtual care came down to ease and convenience, all from the comfort and privacy of his own home.

“I was able to get the care I needed right away,” he says.

Caruana decided to try the virtual emergency department after suffering injuries that were not life threatening while changing a flat tire in March. He describes the process of receiving urgent care this way as “seamless”.

“I went online and picked an appointment time,” he says. “Then I got a call back saying I had been booked.”

When the time came for his virtual appointment, Caruana – an emergency nurse himself — found the experience more comfortable than it might have been in person.

“There is so much commotion in the emergency room,” Caruana explains. “With the virtual emergency department, I was on my computer in my own home and I did not have to deal with overhead announcements or phones ringing or other interruptions.”

Ayush Singh was similarly pleased when he used the service to seek medical attention for cold and flu symptoms in April. Hoping to avoid the frustration of long lines at nearby walk-in clinics, he says he looked up telemedicine options “on a hunch” and stumbled upon the virtual emergency department.

“The doctor took time in evaluating and diagnosing my health issues and even wrote me a prescription to help with fever and throat pain,” Singh says. “The coordinating staff member did a fantastic job too. I couldn’t be happier with the overall experience.”

Sunnybrook’s Dr. Justin Hall, an emergency physician and virtual emergency department lead, says all patients who use the service are invited to complete a survey afterwards to share their feedback.

“Most patients speak positively about it,” says Dr. Hall. “We often think of virtual care as lesser care but many patients have found it to be a better option.”

He adds that what started out as a pilot project during the COVID-19 pandemic has become a trusted resource – one that’s here to stay as part of the future of healthcare.

Since it first launched on December 1, 2020, Sunnybrook’s virtual emergency department has seen more than 5,000 patients. The goal over the coming months and years, Dr. Hall explains, is to continue to work towards an urgent care model where virtual options are seamlessly integrated with in-person ones.

In the meantime, patients who want to use Toronto’s Virtual Emergency Department can continue to access same-day appointments seven days a week.

Virtual emergency visits are optional; Sunnybrook’s in-person Emergency Department is still available for walk-in visits for people who need urgent care.

Learn more about Toronto’s Virtual Emergency Department and book online by visiting: https://www.torontovirtualed.ca/

The post What Sunnybrook patients are saying about Toronto’s Virtual Emergency Department appeared first on Your Health Matters.