A new type of genetic testing saved this Islander's life after his cancer diagnosis

It saved my life. I really truly believe that. Ryan White was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia a few years ago. His sister was ready to step in as a bone marrow donor, but genetic testing done through a specialized clinic at the IWK revealed that his sister had the same genetic predisposition to the disease that he did. Because of that genetic makeup, if I had my sister's bone marrow, there was a significant risk that leukemia would have returned. and the more treatment that you have, the weaker your body becomes, and it becomes more and more difficult to recover. So the probability of survival keeps going down the longer the duration of your treatment is. White says he was matched with another donor who lives in Germany. He finished his treatment at the IWK. Now, five years later, he's home with his wife, going to work, and living his life. His hematologist says the ability to do this kind of genetic testing made all the difference. It's a great example of where this type of testing and being able to do it really changed his course and his life. And he's really here today, I think, because of this testing. Trottier says for a long time, blood cancers were thought to develop randomly. Then researchers started to see patterns, and it became clear these diseases can be hereditary. Trottier says she saw the capacity for this kind of testing in the United States and her goal was to come back to Canada and start the testing up locally. Unlike typical genetic testing, it uses a skin biopsy instead of blood. Through a partnership with the IWK Maritime Centre for Precision Medicine, we have developed the first in Canada hereditary blood cancer risk clinic and local genetic testing capabilities for patients with these blood cancers. Prior to the development of this testing locally, the only recourse was for centres in Canada to try to scrounge together funding, get access from the government and send out the testing overseas where you have no control of the data that results back, you don't know the nuance of the reports and those samples are gone. And here we have control, we have collaboration and we're keeping it closer to home. Trottier says the clinic is working on developing a more advanced and non-invasive means of testing and is hoping to roll it out broadly to increase access for patients everywhere. Gwyneth Egan, CBC News, Charlottetown.