I’m sharing my personal medical story with you in the hopes that you’ll consider supporting the Health Sciences Centre Foundation. I also hope that people reading my story will be inspired to push through times of adversity and strive to live life to its fullest, regardless of what obstacles they may face. 

In October 2020, when I was 27-years-old, I went to an urgent care centre feeling unwell. I felt achy, nauseous, and had a high fever. Given that this was during the COVID-19 pandemic and I had been working in the hospital as a medical student, I remember thinking that I most likely had the virus or maybe the flu. I thought I’d be treated for dehydration, offered some type of pain relief, and be sent home to recover. In reality, I stayed in the hospital and wouldn’t be sent home for two months. 

While at urgent care, my condition worsened quickly and dramatically. I remember the difficulty I had transferring from the stretcher onto the CT scanner. Within a matter of hours, my legs became very weak and I developed excruciating back pain. Soon, I couldn’t feel my legs at all. 

It became clear that I required specialized care and I was sent to Health Sciences Centre by ambulance. Once at HSC, an MRI showed that I had transverse myelitis (inflammation of the spinal cord). After more testing was completed, I learned what had caused the inflammation. I was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack itself. The doctors explained that my newly diagnosed SLE caused a spinal cord injury that resulted in my paralysis. 

The explanation of the disease, its impact on my body, and the road of recovery that lie ahead were made very clear to me by the doctors at HSC. I knew the importance of this clarity as a medical learner who would normally be explaining things to patients, but now I was the patient lying in the bed and my dreams of becoming a plastic surgeon were dwindling. 

What followed my diagnosis was more testing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, pain management, rounds of steroid treatments, and regular plasmapheresis (removing and replacing blood plasma). As the COVID-19 pandemic intensified, I faced many of these days without the support of family and friends. 

Throughout my diagnosis and recovery, the care and companionship I received from the staff at HSC were outstanding. Each person who supported me was skilled, compassionate, and present. During some of the hardest days of the pandemic, they persevered, and patient care remained their number one priority. 

Once my condition was stable, I was transferred to the Rehabilitation Hospital at HSC. I went through intensive therapy to help me recover my strength and I attempted to gain as much mobility as possible. While in rehab, I was told that it could take up to four months before I would be discharged, but I wouldn’t accept this timeline and my therapists and I made it a goal for me to be home by Christmas. With the amazing support of the therapists at HSC, I worked hard and was discharged near the beginning of December. 

Since being discharged from hospital, my life looks a lot different than it did when I walked into urgent care in October 2020. I’ve learned how to use a wheelchair, drive with my hands, and have created a new medical career path for myself. In 2022, I graduated from the Max Rady College of Medicine. Although I was unable to pursue my original dreams of becoming a plastic surgeon due to the difficulty of operating in a wheelchair, I found a new love in the speciality of radiology. I credit the radiologists at HSC with taking the time to thoroughly understand and diagnose my condition so the right treatment plan could be put in place. Since my diagnosis I’ve had a passion and desire to do the same for my patients. 

I am now working as a radiology resident, I married my wonderful partner Trevor, and we are building a home together in Oak Bluff. Every day isn’t easy for me and I have to overcome barriers on most of my days, but from the moment I started my recovery I have battled through adversity and I wake up every day determined to have the best outlook on life possible. 

Alisha Beaudoin 

We All Need HSC, and HSC Needs You

You can save a life. Your HSC Millionaire Lottery ticket purchase helps us provide the best possible care for patients and make life-changing—and life-saving—technological advances. The support we receive from lottery purchases like you helps make life better for the patients and families who visit HSC every day. 

When you secure your HSC Millionaire Lottery ticket today, not only will you support patient care at HSC, but you’ll be also automatically entered to win thousands of prizes – including the Grand Prize draw. Win and choose a home fit for a millionaire in Manitoba or British Columbia – or $1.25 million tax-free cash. 

Max Erenberg will never forget when his excruciating head pain began. It was in April 2021, the same weekend as the Masters Tournament, and the National Hockey League was amid a COVID-19-induced “bubble season.” 

Working as the Manager of Research and Data Analysis for the Winnipeg Jets, Erenberg remembers that weekend being filled with three things: watching golf, working, and a killer headache. 

Erenberg assumed the headache was stress related. Work was busy, and with the pandemic hitting the world, a lot of life was still uncertain. So, he decided to push through. 

Over a week later, Erenberg couldn’t handle the constant pain. His family had a history of migraines, so Erenberg’s doctor thought it might just be a particularly bad migraine. After that week of constant pain, and a bout of throwing up, Erenberg was sent for a CT scan. “I was on the bathroom floor at home when they called me with the results. The doctor’s exact words were: ‘It doesn’t look like a tumour, and no one is particularly alarmed yet, but there is a growth inside your head,’” says Erenberg. 

If the pain got worse, Erenberg was told to go to HSC Winnipeg’s Emergency Department, which he did. He spent two days there before being admitted to the Neurosurgery Unit for a week. Those seven days were filled with MRIs, more CT scans, angiograms, and blood tests. 

“They knew it wasn’t a stroke or an aneurysm, but they didn’t know exactly what it was yet,” says Erenberg, who was told to monitor his symptoms and return for follow-up scans in June 2022.

After feeling better for a few weeks, Erenberg remembers waking up with a sense of vertigo on June 2. He got another CT scan that day, and this time the news was much more urgent—the growth had doubled in size, and it needed to be removed right away. 

Erenberg was immediately admitted to surgery. He was told he would have a craniotomy (surgery that temporarily removes a piece of the skull to access the brain) with Neurosurgeon Dr. Anthony Kaufmann. The surgery was a success, and after a biopsy was completed, Erenberg was told he had a pilocytic astrocytoma (low-grade tumour) that had bled into and inflated itself, which was unusual for that type of tumour. 

If it had burst, Erenberg could have died or had serious brain damage. 

“It was the worst experience of my life, but the staff were amazing,” says Erenberg. “The care at HSC was phenomenal, even for my parents who couldn’t visit. They’d call hourly and were given a thorough report of how I was doing—the nurses and staff were great, especially my nurse Grace.” 

This experience changed Erenberg’s life. He has since left the Jets and now works in his family’s insurance business, R&D Insurance, which serves physicians, including some who took care of Erenberg in the hospital. He also uses his experience as motivation to give back to the brain tumour community as a volunteer. 

“As terrible as my situation was, it was the best possible outcome. Dr. Kaufmann said I was one of the luckiest unlucky kids he had ever seen in his life,” says Erenberg.

We All Need HSC, and HSC Needs You

You can save a life. Your HSC Millionaire Lottery ticket purchase helps us provide the best possible care for patients and make life-changing—and life-saving—technological advances. The support we receive from lottery purchases like you helps make life better for the patients and families, like Vickie and her father, who visit HSC every day. 

Plus, when you get your ticket, you'll be automatically entered to win over 2,000 prizes, including the Grand Prize draw – worth up to $1.5 million. So, not only can you make a difference, but you also could be Manitoba's next millionaire!

Life can change in ​an instant​​. For​ local rapper​ Tremain ​"Te3W3Y" ​Minty-Dodd,​ life changed twice in a few days. The first, at the promise of a record deal. The second, in the explosive blaze of a fire.  

“​​I heard a bang, and ​then ​I couldn’t see anything,” says Minty-Dodd, recalling ​the events of​​​ May 2022. 

Minty-Dodd had ​​returned to Winnipeg after a trip to Atlanta, to see friend and ex-Winnipeg Blue Bomber, Maurice Leggett—who is the CEO and Founder of the Almighty Allstars Entertainment record label in Atlanta, the label that signed a record deal with Minty-Dodd. 

​​Minty-Dodd decided to tell his friends the good news at a bonfire.​​​ 

They ​couldn't get the flames to catch, so Minty-Dodd decided to ​use gasoline, something he realizes was ​dangerous​.​

​​​That's when ​​​​Minty-Dodd heard a loud bang and was temporarily blinded. 

“It sounded like a gunshot went off beside my ​head. I felt hot. I realized I was on fire…so I stopped, dropped, and rolled—and kept rolling until the fire went out.” 

Minty-Dodd felt warm, but otherwise fine. It wasn’t until he saw his hands, “bleeding more than ​I had ever seen someone bleed,” that Minty-Dodd realized the severity of the situation. 

His friends called 911 and covered Minty-Dodd in wet towels ​until ambulances arrived.​​

Minty-Dodd woke up in the Intensive Care Unit at HSC​ Winnipeg​, where he stayed for three days before moving to the GH-5 Surgery Unit which would become his home for nearly four weeks.  

35 pecent of h​is​​ body had varying levels of first-, second-, and third-degree burns, and both of his hands required immediate skin grafts. 

Thanks to HSC​ ​renowned trauma and burn surgeon, Dr. Sarvesh Logsetty, and Ben, Minty-Dodd’s occupational therapist, who he still sees once a month to prevent ​loss of function in his hands, Minty-Dodd has been able to return to normal. 

“My strength and energy aren’t there yet, but they’re better,” says Minty-Dodd six months after his discharge from HSC.  

Through it all, Minty-Dodd turned more and more towards God​.

"Being in the hospital helped me find a stronger connection to God,” says Minty-Dodd. 

The accident and ​connection have also led Minty-Dodd to changing his genre of music. Before the accident, Minty-Dodd claims his music was “more like everyone else’s,” and didn’t stand out. Now, he is working in a genre called Gospel Rap.  

“It’s not the most popular, but there are a few people who've been pretty successful with this genre, so it’s opening up a lane for me​” says Minty-Dodd, who is hopeful for where his record deal will take him. 

To help him on his healing journey, and to show his gratitude, Tremain “TR3W3Y” Minty-Dodd produced a song about his time at HSC Winnipeg, which you can listen to here.  

We All Need HSC, and HSC Needs You

You can save a life. Your HSC Millionaire Lottery ticket purchase helps us provide the best possible care for patients and make life-changing—and life-saving—technological advances. The support we receive from lottery purchases like you helps make life better for the patients and families who visit HSC every day. 

When you secure your HSC Millionaire Lottery ticket today, not only will you support patient care at HSC, but you’ll be also automatically entered to win thousands of prizes – including the Grand Prize draw. Win and choose a home fit for a millionaire in Manitoba or British Columbia – or $1.25 million tax-free cash. 

In 2020, Darlene Roth-Chaloner, then 46, was enjoying an annual camping trip in Whiteshell Provincial Park. During her trip, Roth-Chaloner’s camping partner and cousin Angie Jordan was bitten by a bug, which led to a swollen red lump on Jordan’s leg. When Roth-Chaloner later found a similar looking bump on her thigh, she suspected it was also a bug bite.  

Roth-Chaloner knew a trip to a walk-in clinic to treat the bite wouldn’t be simple. Since 2015 when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), Roth Chaloner had been on a disease-modifying therapy drug which limited what medications it could be paired with. 

The medication Roth-Chaloner was given at the walk-in clinic didn’t work, and the wound on her leg worsened. Hoping for a different result, she visited an urgent care facility where they took a sample of the wound and gave Roth-Chaloner two different IV antibiotics.  

Unfortunately, one or both antibiotics caused an allergic reaction.

“It was the most pain I had ever felt, I couldn’t move. I had a full body rash from head to toe—it was even inside my mouth,” says Roth-Chaloner. 

Before the rash took hold, Roth-Chaloner went for another round of IV antibiotic treatments to treat what she still thought was a bug bite. When she arrived, Roth-Chaloner was told that the wound wasn’t a bug bite, it was blastomycosis, a fungal infection that can lead to skin lesions in people with weakened immune systems.  

Roth-Chaloner was told to see Dr. John Embil, an internationally recognized infectious disease specialist at HSC Winnipeg and a leading authority on blastomycosis.  

“After giving me a chest x-ray, Dr. Embil was surprised. He said my blastomycosis was presenting as atypical. I had the skin lesions, which usually came second to the difficulty breathing and shortness of breath, which I didn’t have,” says Roth-Chaloner. 

“I was starting a new MS disease-modifying therapy soon. The one I was on wasn’t working as well as my doctors hoped, so they wanted me to try a different treatment, which was also more accepting of other medicines,” says Roth-Chaloner.  

When Roth-Chaloner made the transition to the new disease-modifying therapy drug, she also began treatments every three months to treat her blastomycosis, which has since been fully treated. Regular appointments with Dr. Embil have ensured the blastomycosis doesn’t return.  

The new disease-modifying therapy treatments have also been going well and Roth-Chaloner’s doctors are happy with her progress. But living with MS has changed her view on life. 

“I see the trivial things in life now from a different perspective. Things can be much worse, and other people are living harder lives and fighting tougher battles. I can’t change my MS. I have zero control over it, so I make the best of it,” says Roth-Chaloner.  

Through her entire medical journey, Roth-Chaloner has been surrounded by an incredible support system. She’d like to thank her son and angel Hayden, brother Corey, cousins Angie Jordan, Lori Lachance, and Bernadette Scudder, as well as her friends Julye Carvalho and Tamara Domenco, and the one who continues to steer the ship of her support team, her mother Mary Roth. Without them at her side, Roth-Chaloner knows her battles would be much more difficult.  

We All Need HSC, and HSC Needs You

You can save a life. Your HSC Millionaire Lottery ticket purchase helps us provide the best possible care for patients and make life-changing—and life-saving—technological advances. The support we receive from lottery purchases like you helps make life better for the patients and families, like Darlene, who visit HSC every day. 

When you secure your HSC Millionaire Lottery ticket today, not only will you support patient care at HSC, but you’ll be also automatically entered to win thousands of prizes – including the Grand Prize draw. Win and choose a home fit for a millionaire in Manitoba or British Columbia – or $1.25 million tax-free cash. 

Vickie Murdock was given the nickname Angel by her father, Allen Bushie, when she was a child. But neither father nor daughter ever imagined how much she would live up to that name until Murdock donated her kidney to her father in June 2022. 

Until 2018, test results showed that Bushie’s kidneys were operating consistently at 17 percent functionality, only slightly above 15 percent which is considered kidney failure. Bushie was hesitant to undergo dialysis, but when his kidney function dropped to only 11 percent, Murdock and her siblings knew that they needed to act immediately. 

Bushie had two options for a kidney donation. The first was to go on a waiting list, for an unknown amount of time, and hope a donor match would be made. The second was to find a living donor. 

Immediately, Murdock threw her hand up in the air. 

“I’ll do it; I am all in.” 

Murdock knew her older sister, who acted as their father’s unofficial nurse, had health problems of her own, and as the next oldest child, Murdock knew the responsibility was hers and hers alone. When the test results showed Murdock was a match, she was ready. 

Then COVID-19 hit, and the transplant was postponed. 

Finally, in April 2022, Murdock and Bushie were told their surgery was at the top of the list. By mid-May, Murdock, her husband, her mother, and her father, were all isolating together in Hollow Water First Nation where Murdock had grown up. 

“Some people couldn’t do two weeks isolated with their parents, but we are all best friends, and we enjoyed and loved the time together and took this time as reflection,” says Murdock. 

The kidney transplant took place on June 2, 2022. The original plan was for Murdock to receive three small incisions. Because of the size of her kidney, Murdock ended up needing five. 

The transplant was a success, but what was supposed to be a two-week recovery for Murdock turned into three because of the added incisions. As a result, the recovery turned out to be more challenging than she expected. Murdock lost her paternal grandmother in January 2022. Murdock’s grandmother came to her in a dream the day before the surgery and told Murdock to rest when her surgery was done; she said: “I know you’re always on the go, but you need the time to rest for you, my girl.” 

“It was hard being next to my dad every day thinking I was starting my own journey into the Spirit World. I didn’t want him to know I was hurting because I didn’t want him to think it was his fault,” says Murdock. 

Even during the worst of Murdock’s recovery, she hid her pain from her father. 

“It was a big sacrifice for her,” says Bushie. “I accepted it, and I recovered. My body got stronger, but she had to battle through it. She gave me a gift, a gift to live a longer life, and I give her a lot of credit. I thank her for that.” 

Murdock doesn’t know if this experience has changed who she is as a person as her only intent was to extend her father’s life so he can be a part of his future great grandbabies’ lives, but Bushie knows it has changed him. Before the transplant, Bushie was never one to say “I love you” to his kids often. Now, he says it every time he sees them. He feels a deeper connection to his children now, especially his Angel. 

Murdock and Bushie would like to thank all HSC staff who were involved with their compassionate care, and HSC Foundation donors for their support of the HSC Transplant Wellness Centre. 

We All Need HSC, and HSC Needs You

You can save a life. Your HSC Millionaire Lottery ticket purchase helps us provide the best possible care for patients and make life-changing—and life-saving—technological advances. The support we receive from lottery purchases like you helps make life better for the patients and families, like Vickie and her father, who visit HSC every day. 

Plus, when you get your ticket, you'll be automatically entered to win over 2,000 prizes, including the Grand Prize draw – worth up to $1.5 million. So, not only can you make a difference, but you also could be Manitoba's next millionaire!