BY KENNEDY COLTHERD
On average 68 Canadian women are diagnosed with breast cancer every day. Last Sunday a Georgetown residents pulled together and held a run to raise money for a key piece of diagnostic equipment for their local hospital.
The hospital currently shares Sentinel node probe with the Milton hospital, which means that sometimes patients have to wait for vital information that about their illness. The probe is a device to detects how advanced the tumour is. Dye is injected and technetium (an element) is injected into the breast, this then flows to the lymph nodes. The tumour is drained and the matter is then sent to pathology to determine the stage of the cancer.
Maple Lodge Farms, McDonalds, Strictly Dance, Halton Hills Fire Department were among the groups that partnered with volunteers to make Sunday’s setup possible. A community pooled all of their resources and made the event fun and a success. Mary McPherson, executive director of the event, says that the run thrives on volunteers.
“This event runs every year, and it’s a community-driven event. We have a group of volunteers chaired by community members. The hospital every year makes a list of equipment that they have priority for so our doctors and nurses have asked for the Sentinal node probe.”
The probe is shared, and each hospital wants its own device because cases are rising. This device costs roughly $50,000. The Ministry of Health does not provide funds for the equipment that needs to be replaced or for more advanced devices. Therefore the hospital must rely on community support. Before the runners had counted their donations the total was already at $43,000 raised for the probe.
Some runners were also raising money for the hospital but for different departments. Rebecca Bousfield said “I’m running in this event today for the fracture clinic at Georgetown hospital. Last year I broke my wrist really badly and treatment I received there was amazing. We’re running for the fracture clinic!! Wooo!”
Robbie MacIvor explains “I run in this event every year. It is for our hospital and it is for new equipment. We get a team together and walk the 5k. It’s important to our town.”
Visit the hospital foundation for more information.
