YOUR SMA
A LAST TRIP
By Maria Derzko
D
r. Jolene Titus, much loved physician, friend, wife
and mother landed in Cape Town on January 12,
2014 after 30 hours in the air and over 15,000 kilometres. Thanks to the generosity of colleagues, friends and
strangers from around the world, she will be able to die at
home in South Africa surrounded by the ones she loves.
Dr. Titus moved to Saskatchewan with her family in May
2012 and settled into a practice at the Meadow Lake Primary Health Centre. By December of that year she was
diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the stomach and after two surgeries and almost a year of treatment, was left
facing a grim prognosis. The cancer had spread and was
no longer responding to treatment.
Her final wish was to be back in South Africa where she,
her husband and two young children would have the
support of their family during the time ahead. But for a
chance meeting with a colleague, SMA Vice-President Dr.
Dalibor Slavik, her wish might have remained just that.
While Dr. Slavik and Dr. Titus were both patients in a
North Battleford hospital in January 2014, Dr. Titus ex-
home
plained her circumstances. She was not likely to regain
her health and wanted to return to Cape Town with her
husband and children. But because of the requirements
of her care during the journey, she would be unable to
take a commercial flight.
Dr. Slavik suggested chartering a flight but the estimated
$100,000-$250,000 cost was not feasible for the young
family. He then contacted a family friend, Glen Tully the
chief paramedic for Sunwest Aviation’s air ambulance.
In response, Sunwest volunteered their portion of the
trip at cost, knocking off almost $88,000, in an act that
Dr. Titus’ close friend Sandra Quiring describes as, “one
of the largest human acts of kindness I have seen in my
lifetime.”
The remaining cost of the flight - $150,000 - was still well
beyond what the Titus family could afford. So, led by
Quiring and Jillian Doucet, another friend and coworker,
Dr. Titus’ Meadow Lake “family” set to work immediately
to raise the funds. They spread the word locally and began fundraising online at www.gofundme.com, sharing
the page across social media platforms where the word
of the beloved doctor’s need spread like wildfire.
SMA NEWS DIGEST | SPRING 2014
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