Martin Chevalier

Meet Martin Chevalier, a hemato-oncology patient at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont (HMR), who donated shares in exchange for the good care received by his care team. This steam cell transplant recipient's exceptional gift will help save other lives.

A mechanical engineering graduate from the class of 1994, Martin Chevalier was a healthy man until June 2021. He began experiencing unexplained fatigue. Worried, he went to his family doctor, who immediately ordered a battery of blood tests.

After two months of uncertainty and medical appointments, he got the diagnosis. Martin had T cell lymphoma, a rare type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He and his family processed the news and prepared for months of pacing the hospital corridors.

T cell lymphoma

His chemotherapy treatments began in late August 2021 at the medical facility in Montérégie where he was being monitored. However, the aggressive cancer required more advanced stem cell solutions, which were transplanted by the HMR. In October 2021, Martin met with Dr. Delisle, a transplant specialist and researcher in HMR’s Oncology department. He recommended a tandem transplant:

• autograft (stem cells from the patient himself)
• allogenic transplant (stem cells from a donor)

The transplant process began in December 2021 with the collection of his own stem cells. Unfortunately, in January 2022 a PET SCAN revealed that the cancer was still present and that the autograft could not be performed. Martin would need another chemotherapy treatment before he could move forward with the rest of the treatments.

Finally, on April 20, 2022, the autograft was performed at HMR’s Hematology-Oncology and Cellular Therapy University Institute (HOCTUI), which meant a hospital stay of several weeks. 

With mixed results from the autograft, Martin’s only chance for a cure was an allogenic transplant from an unrelated donor. That was previously identified through the international stem cell bank. Martin received his second transplant on July 22, 2022. The process was gruelling, but he kept up his morale and strong character during his hospitalization at the HOCTUI and the posttransplant follow-up at HMR with a lot of support from his loved ones and his medical team led by Dr. Jean Roy.

Donnez pour remercier

Grateful for the care he received, Martin wants to give. “It was only natural that I should want to share my financial success with the people who took care of me and saved my life.” Through his remarkable gift of $500,000 in shares, Martin wishes to be a beacon of hope by supporting Dr. Roy’s research work.