CALGARY -- Health Minister Tyler Shandro unveiled new financial support for cancer care in the province during an announcement Monday morning.
Shandro says the provincial government will be investing $10M to a new CAR T-cell therapy program for patients in Alberta with specific types of leukemia and lymphoma, and the Alberta Cancer Foundation will provide an additional $5M to the initiative.
"Cancer patients in our province need the most effective treatment available to them," said Shandro. "With the establishment of a CAR-T cell therapy program in our province, we are providing Albertan’s with the very best cancer care and assuring they receive the treatment needed for optimal recovery and remission."
According to the province, Alberta joins Ontario and Quebec as the only provinces in Canada offering the therapy. A clinical trial of Alberta-manufactured CAR T-cells will be conducted at the Cross Cancer Institute, the Tom Baker Cancer Centre and the Alberta Children's Hospital and treatment is expected to begin at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre by the end of 2020.
The investment will help fund nursing staff, health care worker training and education, patient education, lab and diagnostic imaging, and follow-up care.
Dean Duffin’s 8-year-old son, Sam, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia when he was three.
Thanks to a bone marrow transplant from his older brother William, he received the operation in 2016.
"The odds weren’t as good as have liked through that process," said Duffin.
Duffin says having this therapy option available will save more lives and cause less stress on families.
"What it does, is gives families hope. Because if you need CAR-T, it means there is not a lot of hope," he said.
Duffin says Sam is now in remission, and having the opportunity to be a kid again.
"He’s playing hockey, playing baseball, he’s an aspiring surfer, even though he lives in Alberta," he said.
