Renewal Campaign

"Whatever you donate - I want to let you know it’s the most powerful thing that you could ever do. You helped save my wife’s life."

It was just before Halloween, and the weather was so good in Kingsville that Brenda Gascoyne and her husband, Mike, decided to go golfing.

They brought along their neighbour, Marie. Brenda is so thankful that they did.

“I just couldn’t make the ball go very far, no matter how I tried. Then on my way back to the golf cart, I slipped. I thought the grass must be wet. But that wasn’t it at all. Marie asked me if I was okay. I tried to answer her, but I couldn’t talk. I reached for my water bottle but the water just dribbled all over me. Marie knew instantly what was wrong. She knew I was having a stroke.”

It only took Mike twenty minutes to get his wife to the hospital in Leamington. Once there, doctors administered a tPA to help break up the blood clot and rushed her into an ambulance for Windsor Regional Hospital. Brenda doesn’t remember much after that. She doesn’t remember most of the ambulance ride. Or the medical teams racing to put a stent in her carotid artery on the right side of her neck. But she does remember the eight days she spent in the hospital - and how tremendously well she was cared for.

This level of life-saving care would not be possible without your generosity. So, I’m writing today to ask if you’ll consider renewing your support so that we can be here for you and your neighbours in the year ahead, whenever you might need us.

"Brenda and Mike saw first-hand how reliant the hospital is on the generosity of our neighbours. She has a message for you and our family of supporters…"If not for your donations buying that equipment, I might not be here. It might be you that needs it one day - but in the meantime, you can save people like me.”

Last year alone you helped us buy an endoscopic ultrasound so that patients no longer have to travel out of town to have ultrasounds that are essential for proper diagnoses. And a plethysmograph - which lets us check for blood clots. And you helped purchase special incu warmers for the little ones in our NICU.

I know that every single friend or family member who has sat by their loved one’s bedside has looked at the equipment you’ve helped provide, and been deeply grateful.

Now our doctors and nurses have asked us to help them purchase this essential equipment: a ureteroscope that helps in the safe removal of kidney stones; a sonosite ultrasound which will be assist our anesthesiologists to check a patient’s heart, lungs and blood vessels for possible adverse reactions to anesthetic; and a special blanketroll for the intensive care unit – which helps regulate our patients’ temperatures, significantly helping them to heal.

A gift of anything you can give would be deeply appreciated by our medical teams - giving them the equipment they need to provide the care they do.

I feel like each of us knows somebody who has been - or will be - cared for by this special hospital. Whether our partner (or our parents) have had a stroke, like Brenda. Or one of our kids or grandkids has been injured or been sick. Or whether someone we love is going through cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or another issue right now ….

Health issues affect us all. And Windsor Regional Hospital is here for each of us.

Thank you, so very much, for your support of this hospital - and your neighbours in this community and Windsor-Essex County. And thank you most deeply for renewing that support, today. All the best to you and yours in the year ahead.

P.S. It only takes a few pennies each day to become part of our monthly donor group - and it makes giving so much easier! A monthly gift really adds up to help over the year. But any way that you can support us today, please know that we are truly grateful.