Jaclyn, Paul and Michelle Marcus
The donors: Paul, Jaclyn and Michelle Marcus
The gift: Raising $60,000
The cause: Funding the Precision Chemotherapy program at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital
When Pearl Marcus was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2012, she joined a research program at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto called Precision Chemotherapy.
Under the program, doctors remove cancerous tissue from a patient and implant it in a mouse. They experiment with various chemotherapy treatments to see which one works. Once they hit a promising treatment, it's used on the patient.
Sadly Ms. Marcus died before a treatment could be determined. Her husband, Paul Marcus, and daughters, Jaclyn and Michelle, wanted to do something in her memory and they have raised $60,000 at a mentoring brunch called Pearls of Wisdom featuring astronaut Steve MacLean. Proceeds from the event went toward the precision program at Mount Sinai.
"It's a terrible tragedy and we'll never be the same, but how you react to it is important and we hope that this will do some good in the world and that it will bring some hope and hopefully some cures for families who face very difficult times when they are going through the cancer journey," Mr. Marcus said.
Paul Waldie