‘Like a bolt of lightning’: Gift pushes sisters’ MRI campaign over top
Suzanne Halpenny was reading the newspaper over breakfast when she spotted the faces of two sisters who had been diagnosed with breast cancer in the same, terrible week.
Rebecca Hollingsworth and Mary Ellen Hughson were fighting to raise the final $250,000 to bring a state-of-the-art MRI, a key tool for early detection, to the Ottawa Hospital Breast Health Centre.
“I looked at their faces — just smiling, beautiful women,” said Halpenny, a longtime supporter of local charities who had been thinking of making a significant donation to an important cause.
“It was like a bolt of lightning. Yes, you’re going to do this.”
The sisters raised $120,000 through a host of events, from Cut for the Cure with local salons to an online auction, but Halpenny’s $250,000 donation means their campaign can also go toward the purchase of a GE Logiq 9 ultrasound for the centre.
And they’re not stopping yet. Buoyed by Halpenny’s “inspiring” generosity — in a very Ottawa twist, Hollingsworth lives on the same Hampton Park street where Halpenny grew up and the sisters went to high school with her daughter — and the outpouring of community support, they’re continuing their fundraising.
“We didn’t think this was going to happen,” Hollingsworth said. “Ottawa wants this. They want this breast centre, they want this technology. People are very excited to help bring it to our city.
“There’s always going to be a need. Breast cancer, unfortunately, is more on the rise than not. We’re going to keep it going. As more and more people learn about it, they want to help.”
And they’re raising more than money.
Hughson, a teacher at Merivale High School, has had messages of support and donations from students, past and present. Hollingsworth laughs that she was walking down Bank Street when a man grabbed her arm, gasped “Are you one of the sisters?” and thanked her for what they are doing.
Friends, friends-of-friends and total strangers are contacting the sisters to say they talked to their doctors, got their first mammogram or have started doing breast self-exams.
“Numerous strangers have said, thanks to you, I’ve gotten over the fear and got my first mammogram,” Hollingsworth said. “That’s a pretty powerful piece as well.”
“We don’t even know those who read the story and acted on it,” Hughson said.
A year ago this month, the otherwise healthy women in their early 40s with no family history of breast cancer learned each had the disease. Together, the sisters, who have five children between them, underwent chemotherapy, radiation and were told their cancer was gone.
It left with them with a conviction that they had to help with the drive to bring a $4-million state-of-the-art 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner to the breast health centre, which will open in a new home at the General campus next summer. The MRI is twice as powerful as conventional machines and will be the only one in Canada dedicated to breast health.
In Hollingsworth’s case, it was an MRI that detected additional tumours that weren’t picked up with an ultrasound or mammography because she, like her sister and as many as half of women, have dense breast tissue that both increases the risk of cancer and makes it harder to spot.
The expansion of the centre, which will move from a cramped space at the Civic campus, and the purchase of the new MRI will have a host of benefits for patients, The Ottawa Hospital Foundation says.
It will reduce wait times between diagnosis and treatment by offering same-day results for women who’ve found a lump or other abnormality, improve detection in high-risk patients, reduce false positives and boost research into best practices for breast imaging.
Like the sisters, about 1,000 patients in Eastern Ontario will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year alone.
“The impact Mary Ellen and Rebecca’s story has had on our community has been remarkable,” foundation president and CEO Tim Kluke said. “I think our community has a better understanding of just how important it is to support bringing vital technology to our new breast health centre. I also believe their story has truly moved people because the reality is, nearly every individual in the Ottawa region will be touched by the Ottawa Hospital.”
Halpenny said it’s a family tradition to support the hospital — her mother was a member of the auxiliary for 55 years — and she has three daughters and six granddaughters of her own.
“It’s important to me that we look ahead,” she said, looking to Hollingsworth and Hughson. “But you know, I didn’t have to rationalize anything, I was just was so moved by your story. That’s all I needed.”
“It was a sad story but it became joyful,” Halpenny added. “It inspired me to act, not just think about it. There are women out there who are dealing with breast cancer. It’s remarkable what their story has done and what a difference it has made.”
Hollingsworth and Hughson are accepting donations at treeofhopecampaign.com.
Ottawa wants this. They want this breast centre, they want this technology. People are very excited to help bring it to our city.