When Jennifer walked into Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Centre (JHCC) for the first time, she felt out of place. She had just received her breast cancer diagnosis and, until that moment, had thought of the Centre as somewhere that other people went.
That was January 2025. Today, Jennifer stands as a passionate advocate for the hospital, a speaker at her curling club’s annual Takeout Cancer Bon Spiel, and living proof of why donor support matters.
Jennifer’s story began the year she turned 50. Her family doctor referred her to the JHCC’s breast assessment centre for her biennial mammogram. The CIBC Breast Assessment Centre is a state-of-the-art facility that consolidates expertise in breast cancer screening and assessment under one roof. Rather than travelling to different clinics, Jennifer was able to get her mammogram, biopsy, blood work and other testing done quickly in one place. “I would never go anywhere else,” says Jennifer.
That first mammogram revealed something that needed a closer look. On December 9th, Jennifer received a call confirming she had breast cancer, an invasive ductal carcinoma roughly the size of a grape. Her surgeon, Dr. Peter Lovrics, told her it had been caught before she would have ever felt it. Had it gone undetected longer, the outcome could have been far worse.
In January 2025, Jennifer underwent a lumpectomy at JHCC, followed by 10 radiation therapy sessions. Throughout her treatment, the people at JHCC made the hardest days more bearable. “They stand out as the true heroes because they take a piece of someone’s scariest day and moment, and they make it so much better.”
As a regional hub for cancer care and research, JHCC brings together specialists, technology, and support services that serve patients across south-central Ontario and beyond.
Among the innovations Jennifer benefited from was magnetic seed placement, a donor-funded technology that helps surgeons precisely locate and remove breast tumours. When she learned her equipment had been funded by donors, the moment landed with new weight. For two years, Jennifer and her husband have sat on the committee of their curling club’s Takeout Cancer Bon Spiel, raising funds for JHCC. Having now experienced firsthand the difference that donor-funded technology makes gave her fundraising efforts this year a profound new meaning.
The Bon Spiel, now in its fifth year, was founded by curling club members Sue and Phil Redden following Phil’s own cancer journey. This year, Jennifer took the stage as the event’s speaker and shared her story publicly for the first time. The event raised $72,000 in 2026 alone, bringing the five-year total to $221,000.
For Jennifer, the message to donors is straightforward: “We need to realize how lucky we are to have this hospital in our backyard because if they weren’t there to do all the things that they did for me, I wouldn’t be here.”