The Verspeeten Family are quickly becoming synonymous with supporting transformational improvements in cancer care in our region.
After donating a historic $20 million to transform adult cancer care at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), the Verspeeten Family approached Children’s Health Foundation with a surprise $500,000 donation towards paediatric oncology.
However, when the time came to announce the gift publicly, Dennis Verspeeten had another surprise in store: the family had chosen to donate a further $175,000 to Children’s Hospital, bringing the total to an astounding $675,000.
The majority of the gift will be directed towards supporting precision medicine in oncology care led by Dr. Richard Kim and Dr. Alexandra Zorzi.
Dr. Zorzi heads the Paediatric Oncology Program at Children’s Hospital. At a recent Childhood Cancer Awareness Month event, Dr. Zorzi shared that advances in paediatric cancer care stemming from clinical trials in which Children’s participated signal “a paradigm shift in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), such that I truly believe that we will see a time when there is a true cure for ALL.”
As Dr. Zorzi confirmed, paediatric oncology research receives only about four percent of all cancer research funding in Canada, so donor support makes a significant impact.
Dr. Kim was recently made a Fellow by the Royal Society of Canada for his pioneering work in personalized medicine. His research focuses what causes drugs to interact differently from patient to patient at a genetic level and may help clinicians like Dr. Zorzi better predict more successful courses of treatment earlier in the health care journey.
When announcing the gift, Dennis Verspeeten recalled his mother’s stay at LHSC. He described her illness as being quite difficult, including many years on a feeding tube, unable even to drink water. “But she never complained,” Dennis said. “She was always thinking of all the kids and young families she saw at the hospital. And that’s why we felt compelled to make this gift.”
The Verspeeten Family also asked that a portion of their gift be used to purchase two Panda Warmers for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital. Panda Warmers use advanced technology to warm infants immediately after birth, which allows paediatric teams to assess and stabilize the tiny patients efficiently and facilitate easy assessment, footprinting, and banding. Each Panda Warmer costs about $40,000.
Dennis Verspeeten explained that he and his family had been inspired to purchase the Panda Warmers by Children’s Health Foundation email which explained how the Panda Warmers had helped Zyon, an NICU patient who graduated from the unit after a 101-day stay.
Inspiration has played a significant role in recent gifts to Children’s Health Foundation. Earlier this year, when Children’s Health Foundation celebrated the Jahnke Family’s $5 million donation to establish the Jahnke Family Paediatric Oncology Centre of Excellence at Children’s Hospital, Lyse Jahnke said, “We’ve started, and we hope others will follow.”
Our deepest thanks to the Verspeeten Family for their truly moving, inspiring generosity that will continue to profoundly improve care for children and families at Children’s Hospital.
If the Verspeeten Family’s story moves you and you wish to make a similar gift, no matter the size, please email ttribe@childhealth.ca or phone 548-388-1228 to speak with Tim Tribe. Your support can make a world of difference. Together, we can create a brighter, healthier future for our youngest patients.
