Less Travel For Care
Published: August 6, 2024
Ivy resident Patricia Hammond is living with breast cancer. She learned of her diagnosis after a routine mammogram showed something suspicious and a later biopsy confirmed it.
“I was not really surprised. I was more disappointed in the news. I have relatives with breast cancer and have never felt that I would be immune,” confides Patricia. She quietly accepted her diagnosis and focused on what came next: a mastectomy.
“There was talk of me having to go to Mississauga […] But the next thing I knew, it was up and running and I was scheduled here in Barrie.”
Patricia Hammond
After healing from her surgery, her oncologist recommended a PET-CT scan to get a more fulsome picture of how much cancer remained in her body and determine the best treatment option for her. But the day-long trip to have the scan felt unimaginable while facing the stress of her diagnosis.
“Originally, there was talk of me having to go to Mississauga for this test,” she shared. “But the next thing I knew, it was up and running, and I was scheduled here in Barrie. At the time, they told me that I was only the fifth person to have the scan, and I thought that was kind of neat.”
Patricia says the PET-CT process itself was relatively easy. Patients are injected with a radioactive glucose substance called FDG, which takes about an hour to work its way through their system. The substance passes through the bloodstream and is absorbed by the body tissue of any cancer sites, which becomes visible when scanned.
“To have this in our own backyard.
Patricia Hammond, Grateful Patient
It just means so much [to people]
in a situation similar to mine.
It has meant a lot to me.”
“I went into a darkened room to sit for about an hour,” she recalls. “I had a comfy, heated blanket on and just waited until they called me.”
The scan took about 20 minutes to complete and then she was free to go. A trip to the GTA for this same test would have been a day-long affair.
As a result of this highly specialized exam, she’s avoided chemotherapy and radiation to this point in her cancer journey. She is currently undergoing hormone therapy treatment. With the support of her husband, her kids and her twelve grandkids, she takes her care one day at a time. She has routine check ups with her oncology team at RVH for bloodwork and monitoring.
“For the people like me, who are facing this disease, having this here makes the process so much easier,” reflects Patricia. “To have this in our own backyard. It just means so much [to people] in a situation similar to mine. It has meant a lot to me.”
Keep Life Wild
Patricia joined the more than 14,000 people treated for cancer every year at the Hudson Regional Cancer Centre (HRCC, formerly Simcoe Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre) – just over three quarters of whom live outside of Barrie. There are 2,420 people treated for breast cancer, which accounts for 17 percent of all patients being treated at HRCC annually.
RVH is the heart of healthcare in Simcoe Muskoka. As the region grows and ages, the strain on this vital resource is significant. In 2022, RVH Foundation launched the Keep Life Wild campaign to rally the community to protect our health. Our goal is to raise $100 million to expand the current site in Barrie and build a new hospital in Innisfil. Together, we can reduce wait times, end hallway medicine, and bring more world-class, specialized care close to home. So that everyone in this region can enjoy more of the good life – the wild life – we all want and deserve right here, right now.