HELP GIVE HOPE

NEW ULTRASOUND NEEDED TO HELP TREAT BREAST CANCER PATIENTS AT OAK VALLEY HEALTH’S MARKHAM STOUFFVILLE HOSPITAL

Valentine’s Day 2022 is a day Kitty Tseng will always remember—but not for the reasons most people find it memorable. It was the day she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I had some shooting pain in the right side of my breast, which was unusual because it didn’t go away. I had breast-fed my children, so I knew that feeling was very off,” said Tseng. Her family doctor referred her to the Breast Health Centre at Oak Valley Health’s Markham Stouffville Hospital (MSH), where she had an ultrasound and biopsy.

The biopsy revealed that Tseng had invasive ductal carcinoma, a type of breast cancer that starts in the milk ducts of the breast and moves into nearby tissue. “So Valentine’s Day lunch with my husband didn’t happen,” she said. Within a week she had a lumpectomy; afterward, CT scans showed that her lymph nodes were also infected with cancer—and that meant chemotherapy.

Everything happened quickly, from the time she first felt pain in early 2022, to diagnosis, to treatment. After eight sessions of chemotherapy from April until July, Tseng made the decision to have a double mastectomy in August—in part because she has a genetic mutation that puts her at higher risk of the cancer returning.

This was followed by three weeks of daily radiation starting in late October, and in January she’ll have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, which will put her into early menopause.

“With cancer care, we know we have to give the right treatment to the right patient at the right time,” said Dr. Mateya Trinkaus, medical oncologist with Oak Valley Health. “When there’s a cancer diagnosis, the clock starts now. We know that patients have better outcomes if they have a swifter diagnosis and swifter care.”

This is also becoming a new standard of care. “Women come in and on the same day they see a surgeon and get a biopsy, and within a week they get a diagnosis and treatment plan,” said Dr. Trinkaus, who was Tseng’s oncologist.

Tseng is originally from Australia, moving to Canada in 2010 with her husband when he was transferred here for work. A two-year stint turned into four years, since they both loved Canada, and during that time they had a child.

Then they moved back to Australia. “We really missed Canada, so after we had a second child in Australia, we packed our bags and now we’re here for good,” said Tseng. They’ve been living in Markham since 2016.

“I have nothing but wonderful things to say about MSH. The staff—nurses, doctors and other hospital staff—are so accommodating. The standard of care is just amazing,” she said. “MSH has exceeded my expectations. I would say MSH has the same standard of care as a private hospital in Australia.”

When she’d go in for chemotherapy, staff would offer her a warm blanket and something to drink. “I was telling my husband, ‘This does not feel like a hospital.’ Going there made me feel like family—the technicians were so knowledgeable and gave me all the information I needed to make my own decisions.”

She also felt like it was a collaborative process, like she was part of the care team. She never felt forced into any decision about her health; instead, she was given resources and recommendations. “I had time to think about it,” she said. “But as soon as I was ready, it was very quick. Diagnosis to surgery was just a week apart.”

Earlier this year, MSH opened the doors of its newly relocated Breast Health Centre, which has six consult rooms, one family meeting room, one nurse assess

The standard of care for breast cancer is going to change rapidly in the next decade, so we are going to continue to heavily rely on our community and our province to provide expert care close to home

Dr. Mateya Trinkaus, medical oncologist

ment room and two dictation spaces for physicians. The new space improves the flow and traffic for more than 4,000 patients who visit each year.

The previous Breast Health Centre had a reception area shared with oncology, but now it’s a completely separate space devoted exclusively to breast health. “We have never treated more patients with breast cancer as we are now, so we needed the space,” Contributed said Dr. Trinkaus.

“Our patients are living longer, our treatments are that much better but they’re that much more complicated,” she added, “so we need the ability to treat our patients with the facilities, the dignity and the privacy they deserve.”

Although the government funds many aspects of the healthcare experience, equipment replacements, technology advancements and other upgrades largely happen thanks to community donations. The construction of the new Breast Health Centre, for example, was made possible by the generosity of MSH’s donors, especially the Wright Family, and the important work done by the MSH Foundation.

Donor funding helps purchase life-saving equipment to care for patients like Tseng. “I’m very hopeful,” she said. “My boys are 7 and 9—they’re my strength to keep fighting. It also helps with the staff at MSH being so wonderful. I think this will just be a chapter of my life that I can close the door on.”

Each year at MSH, 15 radiologists and 100 diagnostic imaging technologists perform more than 218,000 diagnostic tests to screen and diagnose disease in every part of the body, including approximately 48,000 ultrasound exams.

An ultrasound is a safe, effective way for a physician to get a clear image of a patient’s soft tissue organs. Breast cancer patients have scans to help detect and monitor their cancer. Diagnostic tests are an important part of their care plan.

Funds raised through MSH Foundation’s Giving Tuesday campaign will support the purchase of a new ultrasound machine, which comes at a cost of $220,000. “A new ultrasound machine allows us to continue to do biopsies to make sure we’re giving timely care to our patients. We know the clock starts now,” said Dr. Trinkaus.

“The standard of care for breast cancer is going to change rapidly in the next decade, so we are going to continue to heavily rely on our community and our province to provide expert care close to home,” she said. “It doesn’t end here. This is one of many initiatives—it’s an ongoing journey.”

About one in eight Canadian women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, according to the Canadian Cancer Society. On Giving Tuesday, you can help fund an ultrasound machine that will help detect breast cancer and ensure patients receive the timely, expert care they need.