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Ashif Mawji, the chair of the Ben Stelter Foundation
to get him over. And, even though Alberta Health covered the costs of the treatment and flights, all other costs were left up to the patient.
Mike says he knows of parents who have had to say no to the therapy because of the travel costs required
— and that could be solved if it was available locally.
Ashif Mawji, the chair of the Ben Stelter Foundation, says the board has learned that proton therapy could be the best option for kids with cancer, but, sadly, because it can’t be found in Canada, many families have to say no.
“It’s not the treatment for them because the family has to uproot and go somewhere for eight weeks. You can’t uproot a family on a whim.”
So, what is proton therapy? It’s a beam of cancer-killing radiation that
is so fine, so precise, that it doesn’t harm the nearby tissues and organs. For brain cancer, or a tumour that touches the spine, the accuracy of
the treatment is so vital. It means the healthy areas can be left alone. We are coming a long way from traditional radiation therapy, where the hope
is that the treatment kills the cancer before it kills the patient.
“Kids are obviously a lot more resilient,” says Mawji. “If you get this early on and you are precise in the treatment, the chances of survival, of eradicating cancer in the body, are immense. So this is a must-have.”
In proton therapy, there is little
or no “exit dose” of radiation. The charged particles go into the tumour and stop there. They only release their energy where treatment is needed.
Mawji says the plan is to have the facility opened by the final quarter of 2027, or early in 2028. A site has been identified that’s near the University
of Alberta, so patients can have easy travel between the Stollery Children’s Hospital, the Cross Cancer Institute and the new clinic.
20 Together we thrive