Together we will invent the future of health care.
Life-saving innovation starts with you. With your help, we are inventing the future of health care – thank you.
Dr. Arjun Sahgal and members of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre’s radiation team with the new MR-Linac — the Elekta Unity. This is the first machine in the world to combine radiation and high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The Elekta Unity will let doctors at the Odette Cancer Centre target tumours and monitor their response to radiation with unprecedented precision thanks to the machine’s real-time MRI guidance.
At Sunnybrook we are committed to innovation. Our scientists and clinicians are inventing new ways to fight disease and save lives. Every day, our patients receive tailored personalized care using the most advanced medical treatments available.
creation of new life-saving treatments. Your commitment means we can deliver leadingedge care that changes and saves lives.
As a monthly supporter, you make this important work possible. Through your generosity, you are fuelling critical research and the
Together we can make the impossible possible.
Thank you for being part of the Sunnybrook story.
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Together we are pioneering leading-edge research in brain sciences.
Meet Paul. On the same day Paul was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, Health Canada approved a clinical trial at Sunnybrook. He took it as a sign and joined the study. The innovative trial, exploring the use of focused ultrasound to open the blood-brain barrier to enhance the delivery of chemotherapy, is a world first. Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program
2,000+
500
15,500
outpatient stroke clinic visits every year
metastatic brain cancer patients treated every year
mental-health visits for patients from across Ontario 4
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is leading the world in focused ultrasound. Focused ultrasound uses the power of ultrasound energy to target specific areas of the brain and body. From Alzheimer’s to glioblastoma, we are harnessing this minimally invasive approach in clinical trials to treat the most devastating diseases of our time. You make these life-saving innovations possible.
564,000 Canadians are currently living with dementia. By accelerating research, we can better understand and uncover new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, brain cancer, and stroke. Sunnybrook is making history by trailblazing the use of focused ultrasound technology in: •
Movement disorders
•
Neurodegenerative diseases
•
Treatment-resistant depression
•
Cancer
This focused ultrasound brain device is optimized to deliver therapies noninvasively into the human brain.
With your support, we are bringing to life our bold vision for the future of brain health. Sunnybrook’s state-ofthe-art Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre will bring together many of the greatest minds and expertise in brain sciences today. This incredible collaboration will help accelerate and innovate the next generation of personalized and precise treatments.
Rendering of the future Garry Hurvitz Brain Sciences Centre
“Our ultimate goal is to develop direct-to-brain therapies that may one day help in early prevention and treatment for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.” – Dr. Sandra Black Director of the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Research Program and Officer of the Order of Canada 6
Together we are turning impossible into “I’m Possible.”
Meet Claire. Pictured here with her husband, Claire was treated at the Odette Cancer Centre after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Following surgery and chemotherapy, she is now cancer-free.
Odette Cancer Centre
200,000+ 175,000+ cancer ourpatient visits
radiation treatment visits
36,000+ chemotherapy treatment visits
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Meet Debbie. Debbie went to the doctor after having a gut instinct that something was off with her left breast. She was sent to Sunnybrook and diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer. Two days later, Debbie met with the team of oncologists as well as radiation therapist Dr. William Tran. Together, they gave her a detailed care plan that was personalized to her needs. Over the course of her nine-month treatment, she was carefully monitored, using state-of-the-art imaging. This technology meant Debbie and the team could observe the tumour response to treatment and actually see it shrinking every few weeks.
“I felt like the Sunnybrook team had taken me under their wing. They had a clear direction for me. It’s what enabled me to really think I was going to be okay.” – Debbie Breast Cancer Patient
Odette Cancer Centre is one of the Top 10 comprehensive cancer centres in the world.
258,000+
1,200+
patients treated each year
staff members and trainees
With your support, we are striving to find less invasive and more personalized ways to care for patients with breast cancer.
Dr. Katarzyna Jerzak and Dr. William Tran
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Radiation oncologist Dr. Arjun Sahgal (left) with Andrew
Meet Andrew. After melanoma skin cancer spread to his lung and later his brain, the 78-yearold entrepreneur came to Sunnybrook for treatment with the Gamma Knife Icon. Andrew came out of the procedure with no side effects and was able jump back into his work and daily life. Thanks to this life-changing treatment, he is now tumour-free.
“I got very fortunate that people had donated to Sunnybrook to get the Gamma Knife because it saved my life. Thank you for making my treatment possible.” – Andrew Brain Cancer Patient
Your support allows us to bring life-changing procedures, not yet funded by government, to our patients.
The Gamma Knife Icon
The Gamma Knife Icon works by focusing hundreds of radiation beams on a single target. Individually, each beam is too weak to damage the healthy tissue it crosses on the way to its target, but at the site where they converge, cancerous tissue is destroyed.
500+
brain tumour patients receive this faster, more accurate treatment each year
30+
tumours can be treated at a time 12
Together we are pushing the boundaries with lifesaving new treatments.
Fellows from Sunnybrook’s Medventions Program with Dr. Andrew Dueck (centre). They developed an innovative radiation shield for vascular surgery.
From transcatheter valve implants to coronary artery bypass grafting, the Schulich Heart Program is conducting research on how surgeons mend hearts - with a focus on less invasive techniques and a goal of more personalized care in order to tailor cardiac surgery to each patient.
A transcatheter aortic valve implant
Schulich Heart Program
2,000+
175+
50+
angioplasty procedures
transcatheter aortic valve implant (TAVI) procedures
MitraClip procedures
more than any other heart centre in Toronto
the most in Ontario
more than any other centre in Canada 14
Together we are improving patient outcomes, rebuilding lives, and giving hope to families when they need it most – Thank you.
Meet Arjan. Arjan came into this world a fighter, though he was born weighing only 710 grams (a little over oneand-a-half pounds). Fortunately, the tiny newborn was in the care of Sunnybrook’s NICU team, one of the world’s “micro-preemie” specialists. More than 4,000 babies are delivered at Sunnybrook every year. Its neonatal intensive care unit cares for 600 premature and sick babies a year. Many of the babies are considered “micro-preemies” like Arjan, each weighing less than three pounds. These tiny patients risk serious complications and disease.
Baby Arjan with his father, Navendu, mother, Kriti, and big brother, Angad. 16
Sunnybrook is inventing the future of health care by providing the highest quality care, state-of-the-art equipment, ground-breaking teaching and education, and research excellence through our nine primary care program areas:
Odette Cancer Program
Tory Trauma Program
Schulich Heart Program
Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program
DAN Women and Babies Program
Holland Bone and Joint Program
Integrated Community Program
Veterans Program
St. John’s Rehab Program
Life-saving innovation made possible by you. 61,000+
700
4,000+
emergency visits. Sunnybrook receives the highest volume of patients with lifethreatening cases in Ontario.
emergency stroke patients treated and assessed each year
babies born each year
58,000+
Of these, 27% were high-risk
250+ Minimally Invasive Structural Heart (MISH) procedures performed making us the largest MISH provider in Ontario
rehab outpatient visits
2,000+ trauma patients each year
Canada’s first and largest regional trauma centre
Thank you for your support. We couldn’t do it without you. The Sunnybrook Foundation exists to support the advancement of our world-class health sciences centre, through active fundraising in support of research, education, and equipment initiatives at Sunnybrook. Your monthly support makes our vision for the future of health care possible.
KGW01-2075 Bayview Avenue Toronto, Ontario, M4N 3M5 Charitable Registration No. 899209118RR0001 Sunnybrook.ca/Foundation Phone: 416 480 4483 Toll Free: 1 866 696 2008 Fax: 416 480 6155 Email: monthly@sunnybrook.ca
Your monthly contribution will be automatically withdrawn from your credit card or bank account. You will receive one consolidated tax receipt each year. As a monthly donor, you will receive the latest updates on Sunnybrook innovations, success stories, and how your support is making an impact in the lives of patients and their families. To make changes to your monthly support, please contact us by phone 416-480-4483 or email, monthly@sunnybrook.ca