Michael Brovac – Patient Speaker
Michael Brovac is an inspiring speaker originally from Hamilton, Ontario. He spent 18 years of his life within a hospital. Now, at 23 years old, has become a licensed holistic life coach, personal trainer, professional player development basketball coach. Michael has also created a brand, CAM-O, to honour the life of his little brother, who passed away at age 10. The objective and mission of CAM-O is to help kids within hospitals find connection and belonging. The purpose he leads with is built around serving his younger self and providing the tools that were needed when his brother was still here. Michael’s reason for being here with us today is to not only share his story, but to provide motivation, inspiration and demonstrate what anyone can become once potential is realized.
Dr. Jenny Garkaby – Adult & Paediatric Care Spotlight
Dr. Jenny Garkaby is a Paediatric Immunologist, Assistant Professor at McMaster University, and Clinician Educator in the Department of Pediatrics at McMaster Children’s Hospital. She completed her medical training and pediatric residency at Bnai-Zion Medical Center in Israel. Following her residency, she pursued a fellowship in Allergy and Immunology and moved to Canada for advanced training in Complex Immunology. Dr. Garkaby completed her subspecialty training in Clinical Immunology and Allergy at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Dr. Garkaby has a special interest in early diagnosis of immunodeficiency, EBV susceptibility syndromes and genetics of primary immunodeficiency. In addition to clinical care, Dr Garkaby is also committed to research, education and patient advocacy in the field of immune-related disorders.
Angela – Patient Panelist
Angela is a retired school board official and mother to two grown-up children who now cares for her 95 year old mother with Alzheimer’s and babysits her two very young grandchildren a couple times a week, and is preparing for her daughter’s wedding (only a few weeks away!), all while living with CVID and recieving IgRT every four weeks!
When she gets a chance to escape with her husband, they like to travel, try new restaurants with family and friends and go on long walks- mostly on Ontario’s trails. She also enjoys reading true crime books and doing a bit of indoor gardening
Cal – Patient Panelist
Cal Marcoux is a retired information security professional with 25 years of experience in compliance, risk management, privacy, and security of health information. Working in the health industry provided Cal with a foundational understanding of how Canada’s health care systems work – knowledge that would serve him well as he took on the role of advocate, and then caregiver, helping loved ones navigate their health care journeys. By the time he received his CVID diagnosis in 2022, he had already developed the foundations of a playbook for how to take charge of one’s health and health care, and he continues to learn more with each new encounter
Sanjay – Patient Panelist
Sanjay is a blood/plasma donor, a stem cell donor, a patient advocate, and most importantly a father of three to twin daughters and a son. His twin daughters, Zoey and Misha, were diagnosed with a rare primary immunodeficiency disease called Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD). In search of a matched donor for his daughters and the thousand others in Canada waiting for a match, Sanjay has helped raise awareness about the importance of increasing both the number of stem cell donors and the diversity of the donor pool in Canada.
You can check out the full Education & Awareness Day Agenda & register virtually here.