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Community Supporting Community

May 19, 2023

New initiative will serve patients living with epilepsy and seizures

Pat Trottier with son Tom and husband Phil

Pat Trottier (centre) with son Tom (right) and husband Phil (left): “I am confident that this new unit will be a positive development for all of us.”

My son Tom is 48-years-old. He has a bright personality, a positive outlook on life, and a winning smile.

He also has UBE2A deficiency syndrome, a genetic condition that is accompanied by a severe intellectual disability and regular seizures.

When Tom was little, my husband Phil and I would invite Tom’s school friends over to play with Tom in our backyard treehouse. Tom loved his friends, and they loved him. The treehouse was a magnet, and our yard became a community.

Now, my family and I are looking to rally community once again. Not to enjoy a treehouse, of course, but to join together in supporting another special spacethe new Unit B5B at Health Sciences Centre.

B5B will be a four-bed unit serving patients living with epilepsy and seizures, and it will also serve as a step-down space for patients recovering from neurosurgery. This new space will be fully occupied, 24/7, as soon as it is available, benefiting many hundreds of Manitobans like Tom every year. Unit B5B, positioned right beside the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit, will also allow the remarkable people at HSC to provide even better care while helping the hospital become more efficient.

I am excited to support this new initiative and proud to ask for your support as well. I am confident that this new unit will be a positive development for all of us.

This $500,000 campaign to fund the development of Unit B5B is about community supporting community. Epilepsy impacts the lives of tens of thousands of people in Manitoba, and a seizure will strike one in 10 Manitobans in their lifetime. Your gift will ensure that epilepsy and neurosurgery patients like Tom can have respectful, compassionate, and high-quality care at HSC. I am honoured to make a gift, and I hope you will consider a donation too.

 

Sincerely,

Pat Trottier

 

To make your gift, please visit our donation page and select The Epilepsy Surgery and Brain Technology Fund from the designation list, or call 204-515-5612 or 1-800-679-8493 (toll-free). To learn how you can make a difference 12 times a year by being a monthly donor, please click here.

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