Neuro surgery patient gives back to Kingston hospital that helped save her life

It’s a big milestone for Kyla Tozer. On Tuesday, she donated $31,110 to the Neuro Surgery Department at Kingston Health Sciences Centre.

Tozer was diagnosed with a brain tumour back in 2009 at the hospital. After being treated by doctors at KGH, she wanted to find a way to thank the team that helped save her life.

That’s when Tozer and her mother, Delores, took action and started a fundraiser called “Chase a Dream.” Tozer says it was important for her to give back.

“I realized that I didn’t say thank you, and I didn’t know how and that was my quest,” Tozer says.

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“It keeps growing and each year, we get bigger and bigger.”

This is the second year Tozer has held the charity run. Dr. Ronald Pokrupa, who works in the neuro department at the hospital, helped her during her treatment. Tozer tells CKWS, it was a long road to recovery, but the team helped her through it.

“The minute I met him I just felt at ease, like everything was going to be okay.”

More than 600 people took part in this year’s “Chase a Dream” charity run. Tozer can’t believe how much support she has seen so far.

“To see this take legs and grow really just speak to how many people are impacted by it and still it’s so heartwarming for me to see.”

Last year they raised more than $26,000 for the hospital. Tozer hopes to raise more next year, but what she loves the most is hearing other people’s stories.

“Every year, we just want to do what we did the previous year. I really like seeing the number of survivors come out, we had survivor shirts this year to embrace the survivors who come forward and talk about it.”