Myron & Berna Garron

DONOR Myron & Berna Garron

TITLE Retired from automotive manufacturing business

GIFT $30 million to the Hospital for Sick Children

Before he succumbed to a rare form of cancer at the age of 13, Michael Garron drew a self portrait.

He depicted himself as a sunken ship, its hull breached with a hole scrawled out in black crayon.

It was a simple but poignant symbol of the long, hard-fought battle he would eventually lose. Thirty-five years later, Michael’s mother Berna fondly recalls his creative aptitude. “To us, he was a wonderful boy,” she says. “He was very talented with his hands — artistic.”

These days, long-time 905 residents Myron and Berna Garron are doing everything in their power to ensure that other children don’t suffer the same fate their son Michael did. On Oct. 25, the Garrons made a donation of $30-million to Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

For Myron, who sold the successful manufacturing company he spent three decades building before retiring in 2000, the gift wasn’t only about preserving Michael’s memory. It was also about duty.

“If you’re fortunate enough that you have money in excess of what you need, it becomes quite a responsibility to put that money to good use,” he says. “There are so many places that are in need.” One such place was SickKids.

Their son received extensive treatment there before losing his life to synovial sarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer, in 1975.

The true nature of Michael’s illness evaded doctors for years. At the age of three, when the family lived in Hamilton, a lump on his hand was misdiagnosed as a benign cyst.

Doctors at SickKids eventually determined that surgery would offer the best hope. During the course of his treatments, his arm was amputated at the elbow. Eventually, an inoperable tumour was discovered behind his heart.

The outlook was grim: synovial sarcoma is resistant to radiation treatment, but an operation was out of the question.

The $30-million gift will establish the Garron Family Cancer Centre, ensuring that today’s children have access to top-of-the-line treatment.

About $13-million will support four new research chairs and two clinician-scientist positions, who work dual roles as researchers and practising clinicians. Around $10-million will help establish one of the first Metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) suites at a Canadian pediatric hospital. The gift will also support developing treatments — like music and art therapy — as well as the Cancer, Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine Neighbourhood at the forthcoming SickKids Research & Learning Tower.

“The team that is running SickKids is a wonderful team,” Berna says. “When you go there, the kids are so sick that you just want to do whatever you can to help them get proper treatment and get well. That’s what we’re looking for: a cure for whatever they’re suffering from.”

— Jon Sufrin

Article exclusive to STREETS OF TORONTO