'His legacy is going to live on': Ben Stelter Foundation helps bring advanced cancer treatment to Canada with new Edmonton facility
Edmonton is set to become the first Canadian city to offer an advanced form of cancer radiation treatment.
On Thursday, WestCan Proton Therapy Inc. announced plans to bring proton therapy to the capital city in a new facility named for Oilers superfan Ben Stelter, who died at age 6 of cancer in 2022.
"Knowing that this proton therapy is coming here because of Ben, and it's kind of coming to Canada because of Ben, truly means that his legacy is going to live on forever and help so many people," said Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid.
The Ben Stelter Centre for Proton Therapy and Neuroscience is being developed in partnership with the Ben Stelter Foundation and Edmonton Global.
Proton therapy is more targeted than X-ray radiation, minimizing damage to healthy tissues and reducing the side effects experienced by patients.
Ashif Mawji, board chair of the Ben Stelter Foundation, said Canada is currently the only G7 country where the treatment is unavailable.
"It's really difficult for patients to have to travel to the United States for it," Mawji said. "You need your family as your support structure, and to have to travel away is just, it's just too difficult."
Ben's father, Mike Stelter, received the treatment in the U.S. after being diagnosed with cancer last spring.
"It was difficult to put into words how hard it was to be separated from my family for nine weeks," Stelter said at the announcement. "It puts an incredible strain on the family, along with a tremendous financial burden."
While the time away was painful, Stelter said the treatments were quick and painless. The new facility, he added, will be a huge step forward for Albertans and Canadians facing cancer.
"It's very important to us to ensure that if the Ben Stelter Foundation name is on anything, it needs to be world-class and supported by an all-star team, and I think we have this here today," he added.
The centre is expected to be up and running in early 2027, and will be able to treat around 240 patients a year.
Mawji said the partnership already has plans to expand with more facilities across Canada and the world.
"There are some other countries outside of the U.S. that are very interested in this too. And they'll all have the same Ben Stelter name," Mawji said.
The Ben Stelter Centre for Proton Therapy and neuroscience represents around $120 million in investment.
The project is expected to create 100 permanent positions and more than 250 jobs during construction.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trudeau's 2024: Did the PM become less popular this year?
Justin Trudeau’s numbers have been relatively steady this calendar year, but they've also been at their worst, according to tracking data from CTV News pollster Nik Nanos.
Manhunt underway after woman, 23, allegedly kidnapped, found alive in river
A woman in her 20s who was possibly abducted by her ex is in hospital after the car she was in plunged into the Richelieu River.
Death toll in attack on Christmas market in Germany rises to 5 and more than 200 injured
Germans on Saturday mourned both the victims and their shaken sense of security after a Saudi doctor intentionally drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers, killing at least five people, including a small child, and wounding at least 200 others.
Overheated immigration system needed 'discipline' infusion: minister
An 'overheated' immigration system that admitted record numbers of newcomers to the country has harmed Canada's decades-old consensus on the benefits of immigration, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said, as he reflected on the changes in his department in a year-end interview.
Toronto firefighters rescue man who fell into sinkhole in Yorkville
A man who fell into a sinkhole in Yorkville on a snowy Friday night in Toronto has been rescued after being stuck in the ground for roughly half an hour.
Wild boar hybrid identified near Fort Macleod, Alta.
Acting on information, an investigation by the Municipal District of Willow Creek's Agricultural Services Board (ASB) found a small population of wild boar hybrids being farmed near Fort Macleod.
Summer McIntosh makes guest appearance in 'The Nutcracker'
Summer McIntosh made a splash during her guest appearance in The National Ballet of Canada’s production of 'The Nutcracker.'
The winter solstice is here, the Northern Hemisphere's darkest day
The winter solstice is Saturday, bringing the shortest day and longest night of the year to the Northern Hemisphere — ideal conditions for holiday lights and warm blankets.
22 people die in a crash between a passenger bus and a truck in Brazil
A crash between a passenger bus and a truck early Saturday killed 22 people on a highway in Minas Gerais, a state in southeastern Brazil, officials said.