Global Courant
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The newly built cancer center in Calgary has received a $50 million donation from the Arthur JE Child Foundation.
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The donation, announced at a press conference Wednesday, means the $1.4 billion building is now called the Arthur JE Child Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“This historic donation, the largest donation to cancer care and research in our county’s history, hits very close to home for me,” said Health Secretary Adriana LaGrange, adding that she had eye cancer and lost her father and a sister to cancer when she got younger.
“I believe it hits very close to home for most of you as well.”
LaGrange said hope is important for anyone who has dealt with cancer.
“This gift will greatly contribute to the search for cures and cures, creating many reasons to be hopeful.”
The facility, which is expected to open in 2024, is adjacent to Foothills Medical Center and near the University of Calgary in the city’s northwest.
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Mauro Chies, president and CEO of Alberta Health Services, which provides health care in the province, said it is an incredible gift.
“We will be able to change the lives of so many patients and their families and our staff,” he said.
“This world-class facility will be a place of innovation, a place of research, which will keep Alberta at the forefront of cancer research and treatment.”
Child, a former CEO of Burns Foods in Calgary who died in 1996, was described as a prominent businessman and philanthropist.
An online profile states that he was born in Surrey, England, and moved to Gananoque, Ont., at the age of three, before graduating from high school there and attending Queen’s University. In the 1960s he moved west.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 28, 2023.
