‘Miracle’ recovery spurs $3M donation to hospital
Blood patient’s gift to support research, attract specialists at hematology unit
A $3-million donation from a blood patient at the University of Alberta Hospital is giving new life to the hematology unit.
Marshall Eliuk — an entrepreneur from the Peace River area — donated the money with the goal to fund more research and innovation, and to improve patient care within the hematology program.
Diagnosed in 1999 with a severe form of aplastic anemia, a rare and serious blood disease, Eliuk’s treatment program lasted nine months and required frequent red blood cell transfusions and platelets plus immunosuppressive drug therapy. “My doctors ... gave me no guarantees,” Eliuk said in a Tuesday news release. “Fortunately, by the end of my treatment, my blood count had returned to normal. They called my recovery a miracle.”
The newly renamed Marshall Eliuk Hematology Unit at the Alberta Health Services (AHS) facility will feature a family room where patients, family and friends can gather.
The Marshall Eliuk Fund for Clinical Innovation and Exemplary Care in Hematology will help the hospital’s hematology team attract top specialists and support research. Three inaugural research proposals have already been awarded more than $370,000 from the fund.
“(Eliuk) turned his personal gratitude for the miracle of his recovery into a transformational gift, one that will help others experience the same sensation of being given one’s life back,” Don Wheaton, a member of the University Hospital Foundation board of trustees, said in the release.
Eliuk remains a patient of the hematology program, which monitors his health.
“The creation of a family room will improve the patient experience on our unit, while the fund will expand education and training opportunities for health-care staff on new technologies and treatments, as well as support the development of programs to advance patients’ care and education,” Dr. Loree Larratt, clinical hematologist, said in the release.
The family room, now under construction, should be open for patients and families this spring.
The hematology program manages about 500 patients a year from across western and northern Canada for a variety of hematological diseases, including leukemia, lymphomas and a variety of bone marrow failure disorders including aplastic anemia.
The program also manages patients with bleeding disorders including hemophilia, complicated clotting problems and hemoglobin disorders such as sickle cell disease.
The program works in partnership with the Cross Cancer Institute to manage blood cancer patients at both sites including bone marrow transplant patients.