John Brugman’s Story
John Brugman had been managing symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease for two decades when doctors discovered a mass in part of his colon. Surgery was scheduled at Royal Columbian Hospital, but the mass proved only to be the beginning of a months-long health nightmare that included blood clots, an emergency operation, cardiac arrest and cancer.
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.”
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.
Tzu Chi donation supports cancer prevention
The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation of Canada has made a $29,000 contribution towards the purchase of a colonoscope for the hospital’s ambulatory care unit.