Fraternal Order of Eagles raising $21,631

Thank you to the Provincials Charity Fraternal Order of Eagles for their generous donation of $21,631.00 and a special thank you to Klara Schubert for presenting the idea to the Eagles to focus the fundraising efforts towards the purchase for a Gamma Probe at VJH.The contribution came from many Eagles Fraternities throughout the Province, all working together to reach their goal of $20,000 to help funding a Gamma Probe for those undergoing cancer treatment at VJH.So what is a Gamma Probe?A gamma probe is an instrument used to detect radiation in patients. It functions a bit like a small and highly directional Geiger counter, and is designed principally for use in surgery. Surgeons often find it difficult to locate tissues, such as tumors, parathyroid glands and lymph nodes, within the human body. Use of a gamma probe allows the surgeon to make a smaller incision and have greater confidence that exploration was successful, and the tissues of interest have been located.One of the most common uses of gamma probes is in a surgical procedure called a Sentinel Node Biopsy. Sentinel Node Biopsies can be used to determine whether a tumor has metastasized, or spread to new locations. Sentinel Node Biopsies are common for staging breast cancer and melanoma, and are becoming increasingly popular in staging other forms of cancer.This procedure allows the surgeon to remove only those lymph nodes affected and eliminates the need to remove all of them. A common complaint of women who have survived breast cancer is that they are left with lifelong pain under their arm where the lymph nodes were removed. Using the Gamma Probe can often reduce or eliminate the need to remove all the nodes and results in a much better outcome for patients.