Karen Cotnam remembers the moment she felt everything was going to be okay during her caregiving journey. It was when a Sunnybrook MRI technologist said, “Hi, I’m Lynn.”
The Montessori specialist and mother of two was at Sunnybrook’s Odette Cancer program for radiation to treat a brain tumor called a glioma. First diagnosed more than two decades earlier, the slow-growing cancer had transformed into a more aggressive, high-grade form of the disease. Cancers of this type are usually treated with surgery, but in Karen’s case, the tumor was located alarmingly close to the speech center of her brain.
Rather than perform a risky operation, Karen’s surgeon referred her to Sunnybrook’s world-renowned Cancer Treatment Program.
“Everyone I met had the same name as people in my family,” laughs Karen. “My brother-in-law is Lin. My nurse’s name was Ada. This is my mother-in-law’s name. And on the last day of radiation, my therapist was Thomas, my father’s name.”
“I thought the angels were watching over me,” says Karen.
Sunnybrook clinical trial participation
Her progress was also closely monitored by Dr. Arjun Sahgal, director of the Cancer Treatment Program and the radiation oncologist who oversaw Karen’s treatment. Participating in a Sunnybrook clinical trial, Karen received magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before and at key points throughout her radiation series. Dr. Sahgal and his team used the scans to visualize the tumor and adjust Karen’s treatment accordingly.
Dr Arjun Sahgal and Karen Cotnam have a chat outside Sunnybrook’s Odette Cancer Centre.
The trial was an important precursor to the arrival in Sunnybrook of a Canadian-first technology enabled by generous donors: the Elekta Unity MR-Linac.
Combining the power of high-field MRI and radiation therapy, MR-Linac’s innovative technology allows doctors to see radiation at work in real time. Even more remarkably, they can use what they see to plan the next day’s treatment, making radiotherapy even more personalized.
Although Karen’s daily radiation wasn’t guided by real-time imaging, doctors performed MRIs on her 33 treatments to ensure the tumor was responding as planned.
“If it didn’t work, Dr. Shahgal wanted to change course rather than wait a month for the result,” says Karen, who took comfort in this personalized approach.
The results of this and subsequent studies at Sunnybrook help inform the development of standard procedures to adjust a patient’s radiation therapy to changes in tumor that may occur over time.
“This is a brand new technology,” Dr. Sahgal says of the MR-Linac. “We learn the technical aspects of the machine from scratch and develop frameworks for the rest of the world to use.” Sunnybrook shares this knowledge as one of seven founding members of an international consortium leading the development of the MR-Linac.
Giving back
Knowing her involvement could help future patients inspired Karen to make an impact in another way. He recently made a donation to thank Dr. Sahgal and the Cancer Ablation Therapy team for their excellent care and support of their research going forward.
I was working at the Oshawa Seniors Center as a Montessori adult day program specialist. I know the value of clinical research. It only takes a little time for the customer, but it makes a huge difference in the world. That’s why I wanted to help Dr. Shahgal,” says Karen.
Karen also wanted the whole team to know that they made a huge difference in her life.
“If by making a donation I can give them some of the recognition they deserve, then that’s what I wanted to do. They were all my angels.”
