BC Cancer Radiation Wing named after local philanthropists

The Selen and Anita Alpay Radiation Therapy Wing has officially been unveiled.

The Alpays were the guests of honour at a special reception at the BC Cancer Centre for the North this afternoon, where they were recognized for a generous donation of $500,000 they made to the Centre last year.

Their donation covered nearly a quarter of the Foundation’s $2.2 million fundraising campaign for a clinical trial called SIMPLIFY.

“SIMPLIFY will look to deliver one dose of extremely precise, targeted radiation treatment to patients rather than several doses,” Elissa Morrissette, the Foundation’s Vice President of Development, told My PG Now before the afternoon event. “Early research has shown it can be curative for patients with metastatic cancers.”

“The Alpays have been incredible leaders in the community in business, volunteerism, and philanthropy, and they have been great partners to the BC Cancer Centre for the North,” she said.

The Selen and Anita Alpay Radiation Therapy Wing will be where this type of radiation is delivered.

“This new SIMPLIFY trial is an extension of that [treatment],” Morrissette said. “[We are] really hoping to have a transformative effect on how some cancers can be treated.”

Morrissette added donations like those from the Alpays are “imperative” to the work they do.

“Every new treatment was pretty much at one point a clinical trial,” she explained. “Cancer research would not be where it is or have seen the advances it has had without philanthropy.”

You can learn more about donating to the Foundation here.

“BC Cancer Prince George is a true leader,” Morrissette said. “Not just in the north, not just in the country, but internationally. That is thanks to the investments that have been made through donors.”