In memoriam: Sheila Kussner

Hope & Cope’s founder transformed the lives of countless cancer patients and survivors

Sheila Kussner, O.C., Q.C., C.O.M., whose deep compassion and life-affirming social conscience fuelled her unwavering determination to found Hope & Cope, has died at the age of 91.

Her passing on August 6 has touched countless cancer patients and survivors (and their families) who benefited from her pioneering efforts. Saddened, too, are those who counted her as a friend and worked with her at Hope & Cope, the Jewish General Hospital and CIUSSS West-Central Montreal.

What began with tragedy—the amputation of 14-year-old Sheila’s left leg above the knee due to cancer—was transformed into triumph in 1981 with the launch of Hope & Cope.

Having suffered from a lack of information about cancer and a near-absence of psycho-social support during her recovery in the late 1940s, Mrs. Kussner later committed herself to providing others with the essential assistance she had had to do without.

She firmly believed Hope & Cope’s raison d’être is not only to offer cancer patients much-needed support after diagnosis, during treatment and during recovery, but to have that assistance provided by trained volunteers, most of whom are cancer survivors.

Mrs. Kussner also foresaw the importance of a multi-disciplinary, team-based approach to care, with the patient as the central focus. As well, she was an early advocate of the “speak up” philosophy, in which patients are encouraged to express themselves when they believe some aspect of their treatment is not being handled properly.

Years later, this potent formula helped to prolong the life of her husband, philanthropist Marvyn Kussner, who ultimately succumbed to cancer.

A formidable force, an iconic leader

If this strategy now seems self-evident, it’s because Mrs. Kussner was instrumental in dragging it into the mainstream, despite apathy or opposition among certain physicians, healthcare administrators and academics when Hope & Cope was still in its formative stages in the 1970s.

However, she found a receptive audience at the JGH, where Executive Director Archie Deskin suggested she contact the JGH Auxiliary. Phyllis Waxman, President of the Auxiliary, embraced the idea and in 1981, Hope & Cope came into existence under the Auxiliary’s auspices.

In 1989, it finally became an independent organization, in recognition of the fact that it had evolved into an important adjunct to the medical care provided by the JGH’s Oncology Department.

Although Hope & Cope and Mrs. Kussner garnered numerous honours and world-wide renown, she privately continued—sometimes late into the night—to meet with and help individuals whose personal hardships (which were unrelated to cancer) had come to her attention.

“The fact is, helping people—that’s where my heart is,” she said in an interview in JGH News in 2023. “It’s something I do because it’s necessary and I enjoy it. Honestly, I don’t need any other recognition.”

“Even though we’re mourning the loss of an iconic leader, the institution and the vision that she championed will live on in her legacy among a legion of survivors and volunteers,” says Suzanne O’Brien, Chair of the Board of Hope & Cope and a close friend of Mrs. Kussner’s.

“Sheila was a formidable force who made people realize that cancer has a human side, which involves more than medicine. She made it possible for her vision of cancer support to be woven into the DNA of cancer care at the JGH, in Montreal and elsewhere.”

A peerless fund-raiser

A tireless fund-raiser for Hope & Cope and other deserving causes, Mrs. Kussner estimated she had raised roughly $100 million in her lifetime.

Her doggedness and persuasiveness, embellished by a good deal of charm and self-effacing humour, were crucial in the push to build the Hope & Cope Cancer Wellness Centre (which opened in 2007) and to have oncology developed as a separate discipline in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University.

Aware of the pivotal role of research as a basis for supporting those with cancer, Mrs. Kussner also helped to establish the Christine and Herschel Victor – Hope & Cope Chair in Psychosocial Oncology at McGill—the first such research chair in Quebec.

Recognition came her way in many forms, including appointments as an Officer of the Order of Canada, Officer of the Order of Quebec, Commander of the Order of Montreal, and Governor Emerita at McGill University, which awarded her an LL.D. degree (honoris causa).

The JGH also presented her with its highest honour, the Distinguished Service Award. In addition, she received an honourary doctorate from the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Montreal, plus awards from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and from the Quebec section of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

A notable highlight in 2023 was the publication of her biography, Repairing the World: Sheila Kussner and the Power of Empathy (Barlow Books). Not only does author Douglas Hunter recount in detail the creation and success of Hope & Cope, he explores evolving medical, social and psychological attitudes toward cancer from the 1950s to the first decades of the 21^st century.

The value of parental support

The hope that Mrs. Kussner brought to so many people was what she needed as a teenager—and what she found in the love and support of her parents. “They were absolutely wonderful,” she recalled in 2006 in JGH News. “They refused to let me believe that having cancer somehow made me inferior.

“That was a remarkable attitude at the time, because in the 1940s, people were uncomfortable even mentioning the word ‘cancer’, let alone talking about it. I still remember how some of the kids at school wouldn’t share a sandwich or a drink with me, because they were afraid they’d catch the disease.”

Reflecting on her life in 2023, Mrs. Kussner added, “My mother would say to me, ‘You have a choice, Sheila: You can be bitter or you can be better.’ In those days, people in my situation didn’t have much choice but to be bitter. My mother helped me see things differently.”

“It’s been an amazing journey,” Mrs. Kussner told JGH News in 2012. “The rewards have more than outweighed the sacrifices. In fact, I believe I was put on this earth so that Hope & Cope could be what it is and what it will still become.”