It's the largest donation for cancer care in Canadian history. And that may not be the best part - Toronto Star

Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation's $100M donor is anonymous — and didn't restrict how the money should be spent.

Gifts of this size for cancer care or research rarely come without conditions.

Dr. Keith Stewart, director of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, was in a regular meeting last week when he was handed “a lovely surprise.”

The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation, which funds research, innovation and care at the centre, has been given the single largest gift for cancer care in Canadian history: $100 million.

The donation isn’t just unusual for its size. The donor, who has a personal connection to cancer, wants to remain anonymous. They also didn’t restrict the gift to a particular initiative, allowing Princess Margaret to direct it toward its highest priorities: early detection, accelerating new treatments and transforming patient care.

“From a leadership perspective, the most wonderful gift is when somebody trusts us to do the right thing with it and says, we will let you decide how best to use this money to advance cancer care in Toronto, across the country and, hopefully, with a global impact,” Stewart said.

The gift was announced Tuesday night at the foundation’s launch of Carry the Fire, a $2.5 billion multi-year fundraising campaign to accelerate research, treatment and care in pursuit of “a world free from the fear of cancer.”

With 21,000 new patients each year, and about 2,000 researchers and hundreds of clinical trials working to improve early detection and treatment outcomes for future patients, Princess Margaret says it has to be ambitious in its fundraising goals.

Experts warn that too many young people face difficulties in accessing tests and follow-up care during a period when every delay could prove critical.