A large donation to support local cancer care.
The Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation (WCCF) has announced a $2.7-million donation to the Windsor Regional Cancer Program.
This donation will directly enhance patient care across four key departments at the Windsor Regional Cancer Program: Systemic Therapy, Radiation Oncology, Palliative Care, and Respiratory Therapy.
The donation will allow the hospital to make additional advancements in treatment, and strengthen the care that patients receive.
The Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation raised these funds through a number of campaigns such as Show Us Your Brave and Grow On Windsor, however local businesses and community members have also made donations.
Houida Kassem, Executive Director of the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation, says the local community is always so giving.
"Windsor is so unique, they wear their hearts on their sleeve, when you need them they step up. Each year I think 'I can't believe this is what our community did, they amaze me again'. And so, we don't do what we do without our community, we owe a debt of gratitude to each and every person in our community for what they do for our cancer community."
Jonathan Foster, Clinical Vice President of the Windsor Regional Cancer Program, says the need for funding such as this donation continues to grow.
"From a donation standpoint, this donation is four times the amount that we requested back in 2021 fiscal year, and that is a reflection of the growing need of cancer patients. We've grown by at least 10,000 visits per year since 2020 versus today."
Foster says while they're seeing a rise in numbers, it's mainly due to early detection.
"The volumes just continue to increase, but the flip side to that is we do a lot of work as a regional cancer program in partnership with everybody we can throughout the region to get that early screening, and early detection. So sometimes those new numbers mean that we're detecting people that may otherwise not have been detected until their disease had really progressed."
Kassem says this is the biggest ask that the Windsor Regional Cancer Program has requested, and this is the largest amount they've donated in a year-span.
Top diagnoses locally are lung cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer and colorectal cancer.