How Elaine Hrominchuk’s Legacy Gift Inspired a Calm, Quiet Area in the Cancer Centre

Elaine Hrominchuk was a woman who got things done. Her step-son Lance Reid recalled how one day she was on him about a house project like she was the foreperson on the job.

“Mom wanted to make sure I had all the materials for the safety rails for the bathroom,” Lance said with a laugh. “She wouldn’t let it go.”

Mike Foreman, a close family friend who also called Elaine “Mom,” remembered the time when she wanted to help them when they built her sauna deck. She was 84 and going through cancer treatments, but she was raring to go.

“She couldn’t stand if we were doing something without her – she wanted to get in there and get dirty,” Mike said.

“When Mom wanted something done, she wanted it done now,” Lance said. “At the start of every project, I’d have to say, ‘Mom, first thing you have to do is sit down and have a cup of tea.’ She was go-go-go – it was hard to get her to stop and take a breath.”

Lance or Mike would often accompany Elaine to her chemotherapy treatments at our busy Cancer Centre. Lance would sometimes take her away to the window in the corner, where they could sit and talk together quietly.

“It’s a nice, sunny spot. Very quiet and calming,” Lance said.

After weeks of treatments, Elaine finally rang the bell to celebrate her last chemotherapy treatment.

“When Mom got to ring that bell, she was so proud,” Lance said. “Mom never talked about her cancer being terminal. I’m not sure she even knew. She was convinced she was going to beat it.”

The bathroom project was the last project Elaine ever oversaw. After her long cancer journey, Elaine succumbed to her disease the day after her safety rails went in.

Elaine wanted to make sure other patients in Northwestern Ontario have the best care possible to help them through their ordeals, too. That’s why she left a large legacy gift in her Will, split equally between the Northern Cancer Fund, the Northern Cardiac Fund, and the Emergency Department.

Lance and Mike, co-executors of her Will, wanted to find a way to celebrate her gift – and her life. They commissioned local stained glass artist Jack Floyd to create the installation, rooted in Elaine’s love for the outdoors. The result was a four-panel installation representing the seasons.

“The real challenge was, how do I represent each season properly?” Jack said. “For example, spring is a messy season, but it doesn’t have to be. That’s why I put the flowers around the base of the birch tree and a flock of bluebirds flying by.”

“Mom would be over the moon with it,” Lance said.

“They would have been blown away,” Mike added, referring to Lance’s father Lawrence as well, who passed away several years before Elaine.

Today, the sun pours through the four stained-glass panels, celebrating Elaine’s life and legacy gift. Lance, Mike, and Jack hope patients in the Cancer Centre will find peace and enjoyment from the stained glass for years to come.

A gift in your Will allows you to support a cause that is important to you at a level you perhaps never thought possible. You can leave a touching legacy by improving the quality of patient care and saving lives. To learn more, contact Lee-Anne Camlin, Manager of Legacy Giving at the Health Sciences Foundation, at 807-684-7110 or lee-anne.camlin@healthsciencesfoundation.ca