My story today is about how Michael Garron Hospital can transform despair into hope. As the holiday season approaches, the hospital is the last place anyone wants to be. But life happens on its own schedule.
My father had started experiencing severe chest pain and went to the hospital while visiting family abroad. After several tests, doctors revealed the shocking diagnosis. He had advanced cancer in his stomach and esophagus. They said it was untreatable.
I urged my parents to return to Canada immediately. When I rushed to see him at the airport, I promised my father we would find him the best care possible and we would fight this.
Our first attempt to find treatment was discouraging. The specialist confirmed the grim news. The cancer was so advanced that they did not think my father would survive any treatment plan. I felt so powerless and I couldn’t accept that I was going to lose him.
At the second hospital, another specialist told us there was no hope. But there was a voice in my head that told me to keep trying, even if I felt hope fading. I had made a promise to my father and I could not break it.
When we were referred to Dr. Gazala at Michael Garron Hospital, I knew that this was going to be our last chance.
The first big difference was that Dr. Gazala saw us in his office instead of through a phone or computer screen. That personal connection made us feel seen and heard.
Next, the doctor reviewed my father’s documents and examined him carefully. Finally, Dr. Gazala looked my father in the eyes and said calmly and confidently, “This is curable. We can fix this.”
I almost couldn’t process the words. I repeated them in Farsi to ensure my father and mother both understood the news. My father smiled. It felt like the first time he’d really smiled since his diagnosis.
That night, my father asked for one of his favourite foods for dinner. With that simple request, I knew his hope had returned. He had been given a chance and he wanted to embrace it!
An intense treatment plan
Dr. Gazala had warned us that the treatment plan was going to be intense: 23 sessions of radiotherapy, five weeks of chemotherapy, followed by surgery. But we wanted to try. My father wanted to live. The treatments were gruelling and as they progressed, my father became weaker and struggled to eat. He was hospitalized multiple times with complications.
Through it all, Dr. Gazala and his team were extraordinary. I kept him informed of my father’s progress and difficulties. Whenever my father was hospitalized, even if he wasn’t at Michael Garron Hospital, Dr. Gazala would take action. He would check my father’s status and answer all of my questions.
This level of personal care and commitment is what makes Michael Garron Hospital so special. It’s the kind of care you and I want for our loved ones, isn’t it?
I couldn’t believe the level of personal care my whole family received there. Every staff member wanted us to feel cared for – mentally, physically and emotionally. The experience was remarkable.
Finally, my father completed the treatments. We focused on getting him as strong as possible so he could endure his surgery.
Then, days before the surgery was scheduled, my father became non-responsive at home. We called an ambulance and he was rushed to our local hospital. As usual, Dr. Gazala leapt into action as soon as we told him what had happened.
After consulting with the emergency care team, Dr. Gazala had my father transferred to Michael Garron Hospital. He was admitted straight to the Intensive Care Unit. Later, once again, Dr. Gazala gave us hope. He said the surgery could still proceed. It would be difficult but, like before, he was willing to try.
That first major surgery lasted nearly eight hours. I’ll never forget that Dr. Gazala wrote my phone number on his scrub pants with a pen, promising to call me as soon as the surgery was over. When the call came, he asked where we were. He found us in the lobby where my wife, my sister, my mother and I were waiting and delivered the good news: “I took the cancer out. Everything is out.”
Our journey didn’t end there. My father had eight separate surgeries, and complications left him unable to eat for over a year.
At one point, my father fell into deep despair. He was tired of fighting and not being able to eat. I think he didn’t believe me when I said that recovery was even possible.
The power of compassionate care
What happened next demonstrates the true heart of Michael Garron Hospital. Dr. Gazala brought in Dr. Ahmadi, a thoracic surgeon at the hospital who speaks Farsi. Together, they spoke with my father about his concerns and what to do next.
I could see how much speaking with a doctor in his own language meant to my father. That small act of compassion completely transformed him. After they left, he told me he wanted to walk again and to get stronger. He was excited again about the future.
This is the power of compassionate care – care that sees the whole person, not just the disease. That power of hope is incredible.
I am so grateful to say that today, two years after that devastating diagnosis, my father is home. He’s cancer-free. And thanks to one final, innovative surgery, he can eat on his own again.
The human connection
For eight months, through spring into fall, the hospital was our home.
As you can imagine, what made the difference for us wasn't just the excellent medical care. It was the human connection. It was nurses from the sixth floor coming to visit my father when he was in the ICU just to say hello. It was the security guards who knew my wife and I by name and asked how my father was doing. It was the staff lining the hallway, cheering as my father finally walked out of the hospital on his own after eight months.
This is the kind of care that Michael Garron Hospital provides every day to patients in Toronto's east end. Care that sees people as human beings. Care that never gives up, even when the odds seem impossible.
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