Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
On a very personal note, my late husband was a patient of Dr. Neil Fleshner. I met Dr. Fleshner once and found him to be a very kind man and an excellent doctor. My husband frequented the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre every three months for a hormone injection for many years following prostate surgery at The Toronto General Hospital.
I owe many wonderful years with my husband, thanks to the doctors at The Toronto General Hospital and The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. My husband, at the age of approximately sixty, requested that his family doctor allow him to have a PSA test. The PSA reading came back with a high number.
Dr. Farrow, who was a surgeon at The Toronto General Hospital at that time, operated a few months later. When Dr. Farrow retired, my husband became a patient of Dr. Fleshner.
Regular PSA tests showed an increase in the number. Therefore, my husband was informed that he would require hormone injections every three months for the duration of his life. My husband never complained during the entire ordeal.
I sometimes wonder if the PSA test had been an annual test for my husband between the ages of 40 and 54, perhaps the cancer would have been detected earlier, and my husband would not have required the hormone injections.
My husband died in December 2012. It was a very difficult year. My husband had several very serious health issues. His death was determined to be from natural causes.
History of Cancer Care – Lott Family
The late Dr. J. Stewart Lott was a world-renowned radiologist who is an outstanding alumnus of Western University in London, Ontario. He received the Alumni Award of Merit from Western in 1986.
He began his studies at Western in 1939. Following the successful completion of his medical degree in 1946, he undertook comprehensive post-graduate work in histology, pathology, and radiotherapy.
In 1950, as a Canadian medical school graduate with enormous potential, he was awarded a traveling fellowship by the British Empire Cancer Campaign for the purpose of studying cancer and radiation therapy at the Holt Radium Institute in Manchester, England, and numerous other European locations for the duration of two years.
His medical career took him around the globe both during his training as well as his many appointments. In 1971, following his innovative work in teaching and research as Head of the Division of Radiation Therapy at Johns Hopkins University Medical School and Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, he returned to Canada.
Commencing on July 1, 1971, he became the director of the Ontario Cancer Foundation Kingston Clinic and Professor and Head of the Department of Therapeutic Radiology of Queen’s University. This announcement was made by Judge J. R. H. Kirkpatrick, who was the chairman of the Ontario Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation in partnership with Dr. John J. Deutsch, who was the principal at Queen’s University.
In 1952, following his studies at the Holt Radium Institute in England and in several other European locations, Dr. Lott began active practice in the Cancer Clinic at Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario. When the cobalt-60 beam therapy bomb treatment was first launched in cancer therapy, Dr. Lott was responsible for the treatment program under the supervision of the late Dr. Ivan Smith. This cancer treatment was implemented as a result of Canadian nuclear engineering capabilities. It was one of the first in Canada to treat cancer patients using the cobalt-60 beam therapy bomb treatment in cancer therapy.
Dr Lott was a pioneer in the teaching and research in the field of modern radiation oncology. Cobalt-60 radiation technology revolutionized cancer treatment and saved the lives of millions of cancer patients around the world. It is still used in the treatment of cancer in 2021.
In 1961-62, Dr. Lott was the president of the University of Western Ontario Alumni Association. During that time, he assisted with the induction of a festival of great music on the university campus. He was one of the main organizers of the annual University of Western Ontario Alumni Spring Festival. The Spring Festival eventually became the Performing Arts Series at Western.