Patient Stories
West Park patients are our partners in care. They inspire us with their resilience, strength, and determination. Their achievements make us proud. Your gifts help them get their lives back.
Do you have a West Park story you’d like to share? Learn more here.
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Rashmi Sanjay
Rashmi Sanjay admits that it took her a while to "wrap her head around" what was happening to her. Early in 2017, the 40-year-old mother of two was diagnosed with a rare tumour on her spinal cord that threatened ...
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Jamoi Anderson
"I was admitted to West Park where things got good for me," Jamoi Anderson says, recalling a bright spot in a very dark year. In 2009 a severe viral infection had put the athletic 24-year-old in hospital and ...
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Kim Verwaayen
Kim Verwaayen suffered from coughing fits so severe they often left her incapacitated. For the Women’s Studies professor, teaching, even socializing, seemed impossible. She was always tired and her illness caused her great anxiety...
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Shirley Cavanagh
Persistence and a positive attitude helps neurological patient Shirley Cavanagh recover.
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Cancer and stroke survivor competing for top baking prize
A three-time patient of West Park, Patty De Guia is competing on season 8 of The Great Canadian Baking Show!
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Graham Donoghue
“I made a decision to not let it slow me down.” Cancer and amputee patient Graham Donoghue looks to the future.
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Patient takes first steps at West Park
Just 27 days after arriving at West Park Yevhen Shlemkyvych, 21, a below-knee double amputee patient who had never walked, took his first steps.
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James Reynolds
Stroke patient James Reynolds was the first person from his unit to move into West Park's new building. Read about his first impressions.
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“The Small Wins are the Great Wins."
After John Butcher was paralyzed due to a rare syndrome, he came to West Park to recover and help return movement to his body.
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Peter Arbour
Peter Arbour began developing breathing problems due to his Muscular Dystrophy, leaving him unable to sleep lying down. Thanks to an intervention by West Park and a BIPAP machine, the quality of Peter's sleep - and life - are drastically better.
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John Cairns
A decades-long amputee, John Cairns' life changed once again with an innovative new surgical procedure.
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Isabel Vitkin
A highway accident put Isabel Vitkin in acute care for three weeks with a severe brain injury. At West Park, she re-learned how to walk, talk, and navigate the many hurdles that came from her injuries.
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Carolyn Hand
Forty-one-year old Carolyn Hand was in hospital recovering from surgery on her spine when she was given a list of rehabilitation hospitals to choose from – and she saw a familiar name.
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Edward Barnes
Edward Barnes has set a West Park record: at 95, he is West Park’s oldest patient to use an above-knee prosthetic leg
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Cheryl Ruben
Cheryl Ruben came to West Park in November 2021, “delivered like a pizza” – as she puts it – from Humber River Hospital, where she had been treated for a stroke. Full of spirit and...
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Sam Paulos
Sam Paulos came to West Park after an above-the-knee amputation. Today, his generosity is helping others regain their independence.
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Daniel Szauter
For Daniel Szauter, music is something that runs through his veins. “I’m known as Uncle Danny with the guitar who sings – even in the bathroom.” When he first arrived at a hospital in Newmarket...
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Paul Bak
Paul Bak’s life was filled with physical activity. The owner of a construction company, he was a keen sportsman; he loved playing hockey and golf, hitting the slopes on his skis or snowboard...
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Chris Smith
My 15-year-old daughter tells me she’s stronger than I am now—and it’s probably true.” That’s Chris Smith, a 50-year-old father of two, talking about how he feels after a six-month COVID-19...
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Vince Della Pia
For Vince Della Pia, West Park is truly a special place because it turned what could have been a life-altering experience into a positive one. Vince had to have his left leg amputated below the knee and when he came to West Park, he was immediately impressed.
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Patty De Guia
A sudden brain aneurysm and stroke brought amputee Patty De Guia back to West Park.
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Sarah Calvert
Sarah Calvert, a double amputee, shares her experience managing her virtual elementary school from her West Park Healthcare Centre patient room during her 2020 amputee rehabilitation.
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Lalita Patel
When Lalita Patel suffered a stroke in 2018, the event planner came to West Park for outpatient rehabilitation. “I could have gone to another facility, but I really wanted my rehab to be at West Park,” she says.
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Susan Duck
When physiotherapist Melissa Duck was 11 years old, her mother Susan came to West Park for neurological rehabilitation. Susan had surgery to remove a brain tumour in the spring of 2004...
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Joycey Romeo
When Joycey Romeo was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare cancer that affects soft tissue, her doctors told her she she would need to have her entire right leg amputated, right up to her hip....
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Jan Hughes
Jan Hughes spent her career working in architectural and landscape design. So when she came to West Park's Day Hospital to gain strength ahead of surgery to treat lung cancer, she appreciated the hospital's ...
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Louise Wegg
Louise Wegg believes she was lucky to have come to West Park after years of battling severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In 2013, the then-Captain of the Canadian Army Reserves was ...
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Therese Estacion
For Therese Estacion, coaching the West Park team in the Tournament of Stars celebrity basketball event was an important milestone in her journey back after a devastating illness cost her both legs ...
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Patrick Doyle
In September 2013, machinist Patrick Doyle was crushed by a 10-tonne piece of equipment. He wasn't expected to make it through the first night after the accident. When he did, doctors gave him 10 ...
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Arnold Ramroop
"It was kind of difficult. At times, it was frustrating because I wanted to do things but just couldn't." That's Arnold Ramroop, calmly talking about his experience of recovering from a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage ...
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Tim Casarin
Tim Casarin is a firefighter. Not "was" or "used to be." Casarin is working at the career he loves, thanks to West Park. In April 2014 Casarin was caught in an explosion that almost cost him his life. He spent ...
