Scott McGillivray’s Story
It was a beautiful, unseasonably hot spring day in the Lower Mainland, the start of what turned out to be the longest warm spell of 2009. For Scott McGillivray, it was a perfect day to cruise home from work on his one-year-old Victory Jackpot motorcycle. He was in Cloverdale, close to his destination, when a truck swerved into him. The accident left Scott with a number of injuries, including several shattered ribs and a broken shoulder blade. But it was a tear in the body’s main artery that put his life most in danger.
James Milne’s Story
James Milne had gone down the hill on his skateboard many times before. This time however, the ride was near fatal. The Langley 17-year old lost control, crashed and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He would soon need emergency surgery at Royal Columbian Hospital, and his story serves to remind us of the importance of helmets.
Colin Lewis’s Story
It was a series of fortunate circumstances that helped save the life of Colin Lewis. The 73-year old White Rock man was in Abbotsford with family, on their way in a van to pick up the grandchildren from school, when his heart suddenly stopped. Thanks to the quick actions of a number of people in the crucial minutes after Colin suffered cardiac arrest, he was able to successfully undergo emergency quadruple bypass surgery at Royal Columbian Hospital.
Gladys Robinson’s Story
85-year old Gladys Robinson had been fiercely independent, enjoying life in her small cabin by a lake north of Edmonton. She still shovelled her own walk, brought in firewood for her wood-burning Franklin stove and drove her car into town to get groceries. But as she visited her family in the Lower Mainland over the Christmas season, Gladys suddenly found herself in Royal Columbian Hospital with a stunning diagnosis: terminal lung cancer. In the days that followed, as all her loved ones visited and the hospital offered palliative care, one thought kept coming back to Gladys – “this is perfect.”
Sam Stewart’s Story
Jane Stewart was getting increasingly concerned. Her once-active 10-year old son Sam had developed a limp and was suffering from a sharp leg pain that was getting progressively worse as the months wore on. The pain hindered Sam’s ability to play soccer or even enjoy a good night’s sleep. It wasn’t until the family met a specialist at Royal Columbian Hospital that they finally found answers and an eventual solution.
Hank Erickson’s Story
Hank Erickson was already very familiar with Royal Columbian Hospital in the fall of 2014, when he was rushed there by ambulance for what turned out to be a small vessel stroke. For two decades previously, he had walked its corridors daily, visiting staff and patients as the hospital’s chaplain. It was during that time he first encountered a patient who would eventually be considered one of the country’s greatest heroes of the 20th century: Terry Fox.
Jyotika Prasad’s Story
Jyotika Prasad and her husband were painting their home the weekend before a planned trip to Mexico when she started feeling uncomfortable. The 41-year old Vancouver resident woke up the next day with sore muscles, a lethargic feeling and a deep pain in her upper back. “I thought I pulled some muscles and was sore from doing so much,” she recalls.
As the symptoms persisted, Jyotika made her way to Burnaby General Hospital. There, she received shocking news: she had suffered a heart attack and was a type 2 diabetic. After being sent for further testing at Royal Columbian Hospital – the region’s cardiac care centre – she learned more troubling information. She would need quadruple bypass surgery.
Harriet Fowler’s Story
Harriet Fowler was an 18-year old South Surrey resident who loved ballet, had graduated high school and was preparing for college when her world changed. She was left hospitalized for months at Royal Columbian Hospital with a significant brain injury after a severe collision with a dump truck. Her recovery, still ongoing years later, has nevertheless been remarkable so far, and she hopes her story offers hope to others who face the same kind of adversity.
Rose Aviado’s Story
Rose Aviado had not been feeling well the night before. Despite that, as she woke up this October morning, the Surrey resident decided she would not call in sick.
Instead, Rose headed off to work with her husband Cesar, as usual, walking part of the route to the office where they both worked. It was on their way there that the seriousness of her condition started to become clear. Rose complained of dizziness then stumbled to the ground. She would suffer the first of several cardiac arrests that day and in the process would become the first patient at Royal Columbian Hospital to have her life saved with the help of a new donor-funded piece of equipment that had arrived just the day before.
Susi Kerr’s story
Being active is a big part of Susi Kerr’s life. The Tsawwassen resident is a personal trainer who has her own studio in Vancouver. She has run competitively through high school, university and on the national team. And she and her family have enjoyed waterskiing for many years.
But a serious accident on Harrison Lake during a summer getaway put all of that in danger. In the minutes before she underwent surgery at Royal Columbian Hospital, Susi feared she would never walk again.