Every day Grand River Regional Cancer Centre treats approximately 150 patients with radiation therapy. Each session lasts about 15 minutes.
The most time consuming part of the process? Safely and comfortably positioning the patient.
The importance of this step is critical to the patient's treatment and safety. For radiation to be most effective the beam should exactly target the tumour and avoid healthy tissue.
To do this, each patient receives a special cushion (called a VAC-LOK) formed to their body for the precise position needed for treatment. The cushion keeps the patient properly positioned but it also keeps the patient comfortable during each of the treatments over an arduous course of 25 days. Each cushion is unique, is labelled with the patient's name and tucked away for their next visit.
Each VAC-LOK costs $320
*You will receive a tax receipt for the full amount in an email following your donation.