When it comes to giving from the heart, Irena Barker sets quite an example to follow. The Pickering senior has chosen to make a $10,000 personal gift to the Heart of it All campaign to help purchase life-saving echocardiogram machines for the Rouge Valley Health System.
“Four-and-a-half years ago I visited Rouge Valley Centenary and they diagnosed that my heart was twice the normal size,” Ms. Barker says. “The echocardiogram played an important role in the diagnosis. I was only given three weeks to live, but here I am today. So this campaign is close to my heart, if you will pardon the pun.”
This significant donation to the campaign has members of the Heart of it All committee both excited and hopeful it will inspire more significant gifts in the months ahead.
“We think that if Ms. Barker’s generosity is as infectious as her spirit, this is the start of great success for the Heart of it All,” says Dr. Ram Vijayaraghavan, co-chair of the campaign.
The Heart of it All goal is to raise $500,000 to bring new, much-needed echocardiogram machines to both Rouge Valley Health System hospitals. The end result promises to be a much greater level of confidence for doctor and patient as the new machines provide the best possible clarity in the images of the heart and therefore the best diagnosis for the patient.
“Rouge Valley Health System cardiologists perform echocardiograms on
patients every day, and donations to this campaign will have a direct and positive impact on patient care once we are able to purchase the new machines,” says Dr. Paul Galiwango, co-chair of Heart of it All.
Although she’s not a doctor or a nurse, when it comes to health care Ms. Barker has a little more knowledge about how a hospital works than the average person. It comes from having spent more than her fair share of time in health facilities throughout her life.
That, undoubtedly, is a big part of the reason she decided to give a $10,000 personal gift to the Heart of it All campaign. Twice in her life, at an early age and then just 4-and-a-half years ago, she was advised by doctors that she only had weeks to live. But the determination of a mother “that wouldn’t let me die” and her own strength of will later, are the main reason she is here and full of life today.
She credits Dr. Amir Janmohammed (pictured here at left with Ms. Barker and Dr. Paul Galiwango) with saving her life, helping her to recover. She was diagnosed with having a heart twice it’s normal size and only operating at 10 per cent efficiency, she explains. As a result, she underwent surgery to have an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). The device regulates irregular heart rhythms by sending an electrical impulse to the heart.
Ms. Barker describes her life’s philosophy very simply: “can’t” is not a part of her vocabulary. In fact, when she was a teacher of special education for 15 years in Scarborough, she taught her students that ‘can’t’ was a bad word.
“I would tell them to say ‘I’m having difficulty, but I’ll try’” she says.
It is a philosophy that has served her well. Although she is 80, you wouldn’t know it to see her or meet her. She looks like a woman in her early 60s and has a youthful personality that would make you guess even younger.
Ms. Barker explains she found out about the Heart of it All campaign during a visit to Centenary for one of her 6-month checkups for her ICD.
“I saw a pamphlet in the waiting room and of course, who’s in that room except the people that need these echocardiogram machines,” she says. “It wasn’t a quick decision. But if you can afford to give a gift like this, I think you should. And I like that my name will be recognized in a plaque in the cardiac department. It will make me smile to see that when I come here.”
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