Allan Wolfram never would have met his grandson if it weren乌鸦传媒檛 for the treatment he received through clinical trials at BC Cancer-Kelowna.

It was one of several stories the audience heard at an event that saw the Bannister family of Kelowna donate $1.5 million to the BC Cancer Foundation.

乌鸦传媒淚乌鸦传媒檓 certainly grateful to the staff here, they basically saved my life,乌鸦传媒� Wolfram added.

Wolfram had esophageal cancer which had spread and caused a tumour in his brain.

Weeks after treatment the tumour shrunk and the cancer in his esophagus was gone.

乌鸦传媒淪o yeah, clinical trials are important,乌鸦传媒� he said.

Wolfram乌鸦传媒檚 story resonated with the Bannister family.

乌鸦传媒淥ur family has been touched by cancer,乌鸦传媒� said Chad Bannister, Bannister Automotive Group. 乌鸦传媒淢y grandpa passed away from prostrate cancer, my mom乌鸦传媒檚 dad had colon cancer and survived, my wife had thyroid cancer, I乌鸦传媒檝e had skin cancer.乌鸦传媒�

Bannister said some of his employees and their families are also dealing with cancer.

乌鸦传媒淚f we乌鸦传媒檙e in a position to help make that treatment better and let our staff and let the community focus more on health, then that乌鸦传媒檚 what we乌鸦传媒檙e doing.乌鸦传媒�

Bannister乌鸦传媒檚 father, Lyn, added that stories such as Wolfram乌鸦传媒檚 need to be heard.

乌鸦传媒淎ll this money is being spent on cancer research and people think nothing is happening and you come to an event like this and you realize there are things happening. You listen to Allan, I mean that乌鸦传媒檚 a helluva story. People don乌鸦传媒檛 hear them enough I don乌鸦传媒檛 think.乌鸦传媒�

The Bannister乌鸦传媒檚 donation will go towards creating a new, state-of-the-art systemic therapy suite at BC Cancer-Kelowna.

It will help meet the growing demand for cancer treatments in the Interior, and provide the infrastructure to bring early phase clinical trials to Kelowna for the first time.

While BC Cancer-Kelowna does conduct some clinical trials, once the therapy suite is operating, it opens to door to more and varied trials.

乌鸦传媒淭he earlier clinical trials, we have to be really careful about what impacts they might have on the patients who are participating, so you need better monitoring capability,乌鸦传媒� said Dr. Ross Halperin, executive medical director.

The new therapy suite will have that capability, he explained.

乌鸦传媒淭he data from patients like Allan will inform us and make a therapy that wasn乌鸦传媒檛 available as standard therapy before, and a clinical trial proves that it ought to be standard therapy.乌鸦传媒�

Dr. Halperin added that the Bannister family乌鸦传媒檚 gift will have an incredible impact on how patients will be treated in Kelowna.

Once completed, the therapy suite will serve cancer patients in the Interior.

乌鸦传媒淚f there are trials that are only available in Kelowna, people from all across the province will then be travelling to access those treatments,乌鸦传媒� said Pardeep Khrod, associate vice-president, of BC Cancer Foundation.

The donation is the largest gift to date for the $6.1 million project.

Construction is expected to start in spring 2024 and take approximately 18 months.

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