Now living in 91大黄鸭, entrepreneur Marshall Eliuk spent the better part of five decades building a car dealership and commercial and residential empire in Peace River, Alberta.
But in 1999, Eliuk鈥檚 doctors put the brakes on the businessman, when he was diagnosed with a severe form of aplastic anemia, a rare and serious blood disease. He was put on a treatment program that called for the transfusion of six bags of platelets every three days for nine months.
Today he鈥檚 back up to full speed and this week he announced a $3 million gift to the University of Alberta Hospital (UAH) hematology program, what the hospital calls a 鈥渢ransformational gift鈥� that will give patients with blood diseases a place to spend time with their families, and provide staff and physicians the resources required to expand research and develop innovations to improve their care.
In gratitude for the life-saving care he received in the Hematology Unit at the University of Alberta Hospital, Eliuk gave $3 million to the University Hospital Foundation, establishing The Marshall Eliuk Fund for Clinical Innovation and Exemplary Care in Hematology.
鈥淲e are so grateful for Marshall鈥檚 extraordinary gift to our program. It will make such a difference in what we鈥檙e able to do,鈥� said Dr. Loree Larratt, clinical hematologist at the University of Alberta Hospital
Eliuk has lived much of his life in overdrive. At 14, he took a job as an auto mechanic. Fifteen years later, he bought his first car dealership in Peace River, AB.
Over the next 46 years, Eliuk expanded his passion for business and entrepreneurship to include five car dealerships, and 286 residential and commercial properties throughout central and northern Alberta.
鈥淚鈥檝e always had energy,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檝e always wanted to be doing something.鈥�
Thanks to the treatment he received, he鈥檚 back up to full speed.
鈥淢y doctors told me, 鈥楧o this and hopefully things will work out.鈥� By the end of my treatment, my blood count had returned to normal. They called my recovery a miracle.鈥�
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