Family Pledges $25k in Honour of Burnaby Hospital Physician

Long-time residents of Vancouver, Eugene and Mary-Lynn Kaulius are now retired and feel a strong affinity to the community which they call home. Most of their lives have been spent in Vancouver and they know that Burnaby Hospital serves so many people that they care about.

Mary-Lynn’s son was born with an undiagnosed blood disorder, which caused him to have severe issues retaining food, causing pain, fevers and extreme discomfort. Numerous consults, lab tests and examinations from all kinds of doctors still left them with no clear diagnosis. Their journey to find a diagnosis took three years and was a difficult and frustrating ordeal. It wasn’t until they happened to call Dr. David Jones, a surgeon at Burnaby Hospital, that they finally were put on a path that ended up with a diagnosis of chronic granulomatous disease – an extremely rate and lesser understood auto-immune disorder at the time.

“We are appreciative of the way David stepped up, over his call of duty as a doctor, to make sure that we were connected with the right people,” the couple reflect.  “He saw us immediately and went out of his way to help us find a solution. That’s also the feeling we get from the way he describes the staff at Burnaby Hospital – they always go above and beyond.”

Eugene and Mary-Lynn feel a strong connection to Burnaby Hospital through Dr. Jones, and when he mentioned the Proud History, Bright Future redevelopment campaign, they were eager to learn more.

“We heard about the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment from Dr. Jones, who helped us understand that the government doesn’t provide all the funding for the hospital – it was quite a revelation to learn that,” Eugene and Mary-Lynn share. “David described the expanded and new facilities that would be available to the Burnaby community after redevelopment. We had already thought that these capabilities were already there at such a centrally located, large hospital!”

That is why Eugene and Mary-Lynn have pledged $25,000 towards the redevelopment campaign and are also considering contributing even more through estate planning. Through learning more about Burnaby Hospital Foundation, they appreciate how important it is for the community to support their local hospitals to ensure that physicians and medical staff have access to state-of-the-art equipment.

“The need is now and the time to think of supporting is now,” they share emphatically. “This redevelopment will meet so many of our medical needs in our community and we’re happy that it’s happening right now.”