Susan Doyle

Hospital Foundation 'is my passion'

NOTE: On November 12, 2003, Susan Doyle, President and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation was honoured by the Association of Fundraising Professionals as Fundraiser of the Year. The following is an excerpt of an article that appeared that day in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper.

Every April 25, Susan Doyle receives flowers from her son, Greg, in memory of a day she says she could "never forget for the rest of my life."

On April 25, 1997 - a Friday morning, she remembers - she was taken into an operating room at The Ottawa Hospital's Civic campus, where surgeons removed one of her kidneys and gave it to her teenage son.

As well as being a life-altering experience -- and a second life-saving experience for Greg -- that transplant also led her to accept an offer to become President and CEO of The Ottawa Hospital Foundation. The Foundation is trying to raise $100 million for its share of improvements and research at the Hospital's three campuses.

In an almost five-hour operation, surgeons carefully removed her kidney and carried it to a second operating room where it was transplanted into Greg. It was functioning 22 minutes after implant. "It was a miracle," Susan said.

Greg's yellow skin returned to a more natural, healthier colour. And his health continues to be good, although he remains on "a strong cocktail of drugs" to prevent rejection.

Susan -- who worked at Carleton University as an assistant vice-president for alumni and development services, with responsibility for raising funds for the school -- was working with Eric Sprott on his $10-million donation to the University's business school in 2001 when she was approached by executive headhunters to take on the Hospital Foundation post.

"I was very happy at Carleton and wasn't looking for a change," she said.

But then Greg had a second brush with death. Four years after his first life-saving operation, he was rushed to the Civic Campus for treatment of an E. coli infection. Physicians stabilized him and transferred him to the General Campus for treatment.

"He went from feeling fine to gravely ill in 24 hours," Susan said. "But he survived that episode without kidney damage, thanks to the talents and ability of the specialists."

It was right around that time, Susan said, that she was approached by the Hospital and the "light went on."

"I realized that I might have a special opportunity and that I shouldn't be taking this institution for granted any more. I said let's meet and began to get excited by the opportunity."

The Foundation, which operates independently of the Hospital, really needs the help of the community to raise the essential funds for health care, she said.