A recent gift from radio mogul Allan Slaight and his wife, Emmanuelle Gattuso, as well as Gary and Donna Slaight brought the local family’s contributions to the Gattuso Rapid Diagnostic Centre, a one-day breast cancer diagnosis program at Princess Margaret Hospital, up to $20 million and closed the remaining gap in the $25 million campaign.
Spearheaded by Dr. David McCready, head of the breast cancer program at Princess Margaret Hospital, the program was designed to eliminate the stress patients would endure, waiting anywhere from five to eight weeks to receive results. He has reduced the wait to one day, which includes a physical exam, mammogram, ultrasound and tissue biopsy, followed by results.
The centre will be open five days a week beginning in May, and it may be expanded to the diagnosis of lung and pancreatic cancers. Gattuso, a cancer survivor, said she burst into tears when she received the cheque for the final donation.
“Allan, Gary, Donna and I are so proud to have been able to help turn a brilliant idea into something that is helping change the lives of a great number of patients diagnosed with breast cancer,” she said.