Michele Davis made her first donation to the Victoria Hospitals Foundation last year during a campaign to fund imaging equipment.
Fittingly, a piece of imaging equipment — a computerized tomography scanner, or CT scanner — recently revealed that she is cancer-free.
“You never know when you or someone you love will need something you can help make possible,” the local business owner said of being a donor.
Davis, 58, runs a tour business called That Girl in Victoria, and like many this year her prospects have been greatly affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On top that, she had to deal with cancer.
The cancer first showed itself as an irritation under her tongue.
Davis said it was “a big, scary moment” when the diagnosis came, followed by surgery.
A biopsy in the spring showed there was more cancer to remove.
Davis said an overnight stay in the hospital was suggested for her second surgery in July, since the tongue can bleed a lot.
“Shortly after my surgery, my tongue started swelling quite badly and I couldn’t breathe very well,” she said.
Davis was rushed into emergency surgery with Dr. Clark Bartlett as the swelling threatened to completely block her airway. There was the prospect of an emergency tracheotomy, but things did not go that far.
From there she went to the Intensive Care Unit, where she spent two days breathing with the assistance of a ventilator. She was lying behind tubes and couldn’t speak.
“Things go sideways and it definitely went sideways for me,” Davis said. “It happened really quickly.”
She said what happened to her instilled further awareness of the need to support the Victoria Hospitals Foundation, which has a new fundraising campaign underway to complement the ICU and other care.
The goal is to raise $7 million to establish Vancouver Island’s first High Acuity Unit, to help take the pressure off the ICU at key times.
“The new High Acuity Unit at Royal Jubilee Hospital will give our care teams and patients a much-needed increase in critical-care bed capacity, and more access to advanced post-operative management,” Bartlett said.
“My patients like Michele, who require airway monitoring or post-operative care, will be supported by the new unit and the increase in specialized care that it provides.”
Donations to the new campaign, dubbed It’s Critical, mean people like Davis will have a place to go if there is no room in the ICU.
“Critical care is most important when you least expect it,” she said. “When your life can depend on it.”
Davis said didn’t always know before how vital the foundation is and the role it plays in helping hospitals.
“I just assumed anything to do with the hospital would come from the lines of government,” she said. “Now I know how important it is to help fund this equipment, and to have it right here at home.
“I didn’t realize that private funding is needed for a lot of that kind of specialized equipment. It was an eye opener to me.”
The campaign received a huge boost recently with a $2.65-million donation from Seaspan Victoria Shipyards and the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation. Seaspan vice-president and general manager Joe O’Rourke said at the time of the donation that it is important to act, since Vancouver Island has never had an HAU and COVID-19 is having a big impact on Island communities.
Donations to the It’s Critical Campaign can be made online at victoriahf.ca. The public can also call 250-519-1750 or email [email protected].
