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Let's Honour Him

David MacDonald was a big part of so many lives. He was a great guy. He was blessed to have a beautiful young family. David was my brother. He passed away on July 24. In 2010 David was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Some time after that he and I would learn we had inherited a BRCA2 mutation. Our mother died of cancer in 2010. Our father died of BRCA2 related cancers in 2013. I am a breast cancer survivor.

From 2010 David received medical care from Dr Larry Goldenberg and Dr Kim Chi at the BC Cancer Agency. Surgery and hormone therapy kept David’s cancer in check until 2014 when metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) was confirmed. Since then he received the latest therapies to maximize his survival and his quality of life. In May David made a compassionate use request to obtain an unauthorized cancer drug. It was too late, even though more than 22,000 people supported his inspirational efforts. I hope David’s initiative will make it just a bit easier for others in the future to obtain unauthorized drugs when there are no other alternatives.

My brother knew that he was receiving world class care from the BC Cancer Agency and that he and countless others were getting the benefit of its research. He also knew that excellence comes at a cost. Over the past five years he donated generously to cancer causes.

In David’s honour my husband Jack and I have made a donation to the BC Cancer Foundation to be directed equally to prostate cancer and breast cancer research.

We would ask you to also honour my brother by making even a small donation.

Thank you,

Karen


This was David's compassionate use request.
https://www.change.org/p/astrazeneca-just-say-yes