Bryan Murray knew how win on the ice. The Shawville native’s 620 NHL victories as a head coach and his leadership as General Manager that led to 296 Senators wins is a testament to that.
However, his influence extended beyond the rink and is the reason behind the creation of The Bryan Murray Legacy Fund which is dedicated to making integrative cancer care at The Centre for Health Innovation (CHI) available to all, no matter the financial circumstances. This is one of the many reasons the Senators Community Foundation is proud that funds raised as part of our Hockey Fights Cancer Night on November 27, 2023 will go directly to support children's oncology at organizations like CHEO and care at The Centre for Health Innovation through The Bryan Murray Legacy Fund.
“Back in 2014 my Mom found the Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre (which is now The Centre for Health Innovation). . My sister was up in Canada at the time, and she went with Mom and Dad to the initial appointment. Dad reflected on some of the benefits that he had received through therapy,” describes Brittany Murray, Bryan Murray’s daughter. “From there, he thought about it and wanted other people to experience, and have the opportunity to see that complementary therapies can really help to manage something as hard as chemotherapy.”
This initial thought caught on and has been helping a great deal of cancer patients across the National Capital Region.
“Being a nurse myself, I just think it's so important to look at the whole person, including their mental health and helping them get everything they might need to complement their physical health,” she adds.
Integrative cancer care can involve many aspects of treatment including naturopathic medicine, integrative and functional medicine, acupuncture, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, massage therapy, physiotherapy, craniosacral therapy, and more.
“Bryan shared my fundamental belief that an integrative approach to care is really the best type of care for cancer and people living with cancer,” said Dr. Dugald Seely, ND, Founder of The Centre for Health Innovation. “Targeted therapies can really support the body when facing things like chemotherapy and radiation and surgery, to be able to manage them as well as possible.”
The importance of Bryan’s Fund in terms of ensuring access to integrative therapies can’t be understated and it is something that the CHI is very proud to celebrate.
“The fact that he was a patient who was vocal about this and wanted to make it more accessible is one of the really important aspects,” explains Dr. Seely, ND. “It's an unfortunate reality that while a lot of conventional medicine is accessible and covered, a lot of these supportive care therapies are not. This is why it’s so significant to have this integrative cancer care supported by his legacy.”
“It’s just so important that you see people being able to get access to this type of care when they otherwise wouldn't, and are benefiting from it in such a big way!”
At the game fans will have a myriad of ways to be able to support the Senators Community Foundation, with a focus on children’s oncology, including being able to utilize the latest technology to donate right from the venue with the help of volunteers from CIBC.
Additionally, fans were able to bid on special purple autographed HFC jerseys, purchase HFC Senators items from the Sens Store with a portion of the proceeds supporting children’s oncology as well.
“I just think he would be really proud and would be really grateful to the city and everyone involved in where the Fund is now,” concluded Murray. “Dad really loved children and always thought it was so unfortunate when he would talk to younger people at the infusion center,” she added.”
“He just thought that was just awful when someone young was affected by cancer. So I just think he’d be, really, really proud of where the Fund is now and that it's still going strong.”
