RONALD Morden's cancer surgery at the Health Sciences Centre may have been relatively routine to his surgeon, but it was nothing short of a miracle to him.
"I was told without surgery I would have six months to one and a half years to live," the 77-year-old Morden said recently.
Complicating Morden's surgery was the fact he had undergone cardiac surgery six years earlier, forcing surgeons to attack his cancer through the side of his chest wall instead of from the front.
But six months after the removal of cancer in Morden's stomach and lower esophagus, he feels better than he has in years.
"I'm looking down at the sod today instead of looking up at it," he said.
The surgery that removed the cancer in Morden's stomach and esophagus was performed by Dr. Jeremy Lipschitz, who, with the help of the Health Sciences Centre Foundation, is working on innovations that will put HSC at the forefront of medical science both in Canada and around the world.
"I'm very thrilled with the Foundation for helping keep someone like Dr. Lipschitz here, and I can't say enough about the staff that cared for me," Morden said.
Lipschitz says he and others are working on newer techniques than he used on Morden's surgery. And that's where the HSCF comes in and why it is helping build the Siemens Institute for Advanced Medicine.
"In many centres, there would be the option of doing it with laparoscopic (minimally invasive) surgery," he said.
"The vision for the Siemens Institute takes us outside the regular day-to-day operating rooms. It allows us to use our imagination and look at new techniques for doing things.
"We believe it will really widen our options for patient care here. Through the Foundation, this is a very tangible gift we are getting."
Last November, the HSCF held the official groundbreaking for the Siemens Institute. This 80,000-square-foot facility, when construction is completed late next year, will house some of the most advanced medical technology in the world.
Sally Flintoft, president and CEO of the HSCF, said chief among those innovations will be what they call the 'ORs of the Future.' Here three special operating rooms will be set up, allowing researchers to investigate cutting edge surgical improvements.
Here also will be an intra-operative MRI scanner, allowing a surgeon to check a patient with an MRI in the middle of surgery to immediately ensure the procedure is a success even before closing the patient.
"What we do here is support the extraordinary," Flintoft said.
"And the extraordinary is happening here all the time."
The Siemens building will also house the ARTISTE, a machine that is similar to the hospital's Gamma Knife which can precisely destroy brain tumours using radiation rather than a scalpel. Using the same non-invasive surgical technology, the ARTISTE will be used to treat tumours in other parts of the body.
The Foundation is in its 26th year of working to help the HSC and over that time it has raised more than $75 million for several areas including $45.7 million for research and education, $12 million for the Siemens Institute, and $12 million to construct the John Buhler Research Centre.
Flintoft said a major fringe benefit of building the John Buhler Research Centre was that when a combined Positron Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography (PET/CT) machine became available, there was space available for it and it has been in place for about two years now. It allows doctors to find where cancer tumors have spread in the body, weeks or months before symptoms appear.
"It's probably one of the most advanced pieces of technology here and we had the first in North America at the time," she said.
"It's all because of generous donors. We talk about our extraordinary people who work here, but here at the Foundation we talk about our extraordinary donors."
The HSCF receives money from individuals, many who are pleased with the care they or members of their family received at the hospital, and through fundraising programs, including the GoodLife Lottery and Gift of Hope Radio-a-thon.
The HSCF also holds its annual Laureate of Excellence Award Dinner during which it honours people for their good work. This year, singer and actor Tom Jackson, who has done a lot of work to help the hungry, was an honouree and last year it was Doctors Without Borders.
Flintoft said while funds from the HSCF don't go directly to help individual bedside care, it too is helped.
"There are not enough medical professionals around, but we talk about it in terms of tools. If we give them the tools to do their job, it is all so critical to attracting people and keeping them here."
As for Morden, he will continue to support the Foundation at the hospital which has given him new life.
"By all means, I'd tell people to continue to support the Foundation," Morden said.
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
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