Alex with Dr. Dumitra.

Your support makes all the difference to countless patients and families. Here is one of their stories – an amazing example of what research can achieve, thanks to philanthropy.

In October 2021, Alex Villalta’s cardiologist noticed that Alex had lost a lot of weight in a very short time, and he was concerned. Alex was referred to the Cedars Cancer Centre at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), where, just 18 days later, he received a devastating diagnosis. “I was told I had an enormous tumour in my abdomen, that it was a very rare and aggressive type of cancer called Leiomyosarcoma, that it had metastasized, and that I probably had about 18 month to live.” he says.

Dying was not on Alex’s agenda. He was a healthy, active, 62-year-old business owner – not to mention the proud grandfather of two young grandchildren, with whom he dreamed of going to Disney World. He was determined to do whatever it took to beat the disease. 

Luckily for Alex, his case was taken on by a team of medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and interventional radiologists who have extensive expertise in sarcomas and a knack for thinking outside the box.  

He underwent several months of chemotherapy, with the hope of reducing the size of the tumour and stopping its spread.  Following that, he had surgery to remove the tumour, which weighed an astonishing 4.4 kg.

“During the surgery, my colleague, Dr. Prosanto Chaudhury, discovered that we wouldn’t be able to remove the liver metastases and that we’d need to come up with a new strategy,” explains surgical oncologist Dr. Sinziana Dumitra. While Dr. Dumitra and the other members of Alex’s medical team were brainstorming different treatment options, she had an “Aha!” moment: “I wondered if we could try Y-90 radioembolization, which is a type of radiation treatment thats’ primarily used for advanced liver cancer,” she explains. “I knew it had been used to treat other types of cancer that had spread to the liver, so we thought it was worth a shot.”

Dr. Dumitra called on her colleague, Dr. Tatiana Cabrera, an interventional radiologist who has expertise administering Y-90 treatments for colorectal and liver cancers. She agreed to perform the procedure on Alex. Alex understood that they were retasking a treatment that had never been tried on sarcomas before, and that there were no guarantees that it would work. “But, it not only worked, it got rid of all of the cancer in the right side of my liver!” he says.  

The cancerous nodules that remained in the left side of Alex’s liver have since been removed by ablation. Alex is now cancer-free. He beat all the odds, and is still very much alive, four years after receiving such a bleak prognosis. 

“I’m incredibly grateful to Dr. Dumitra for coming up with the idea and for making it happen. I never gave up, and neither did she,” says Alex, who is now planning that trip to Disney World with his grandchildren. 

Alex during his battle with cancer.

According to Dr. Dumitra, Alex’s case was a medical miracle and a game-changer that surprised the sarcoma world. She credits teamwork and collaboration, as well as foundation funding, for this amazing oncology breakthrough.  

“This kind of success story can’t happen without extra funding from foundations,” she says. “It allows doctors, including those of us on Alex’s team, to pursue advanced training and to conduct trials, so we can test new treatments and save more lives. It’s simple: without extra funding, we can’t innovate we can’t advance science, and we can’t give patients the greatest gift of all: the gift of time with their loved ones.”

While the Together Against Cancer campaign began in 2024, the Cedars Cancer Foundation and the Montreal General Hospital Foundation (MGHF) have been proudly supporting life-changing innovation and research at the MUHC, and the Research Institute of the MUHC, for decades.  

“Through research grants, fellowships, and targeted fundraising initiatives, we provide funding that’s leading to groundbreaking discoveries and bringing new hope to cancer patients and loved ones,” says Cedars President and CEO Jeff Shamie.

Alex undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

“For more than fifty years, the Montreal General Hospital Foundation has been committed to funding medical research and innovation, including breakthroughs that are transforming the future of cancer care,” says MGHF Predisent and CEO Brian Thompson. “For example, the medical teams we support are developing world-leading techniques in minimally invasive surgery and bringing AI and robotics into the operating room. In the lab they’re developing precision treatments based on the unique biology of a patient’s tumour, while also leading projects to equalize access to life-saving clinical trials – all thanks to generous donors.”

“Every day, healthcare teams give the best they can to fight cancer, and patients, like Alex, give the best they can just to survive. “We’re asking the community to dig deep and to give the best that they can, so we can achieve our goal,” adds Jeff Shamie.

Please give the best you can. 

This article first appeared in The Montrealer.