The Gift: $1-million
The Cause: Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga
The Reason: Improvements to the hospital's cardiac centre
Fred Ketchen was cutting the grass at his home in Mississauga one Saturday afternoon when he started to feel uneasy. At first Mr. Ketchen thought it was the heat and he took a rest to cool down. But when the uneasiness continued, Mr. Ketchen ended up in the emergency room of the Trillium Health Centre with doctors telling him he was having a heart attack.
"It was a frightening experience because I could feel myself slipping away," recalled Mr. Ketchen, a long-time stock market commentator and director of equity trading for Scotia Capital Inc.
That was almost 30 years ago and Mr. Ketchen, 74, has had two operations since then to install stents in his arteries.
His connection to Trillium goes beyond his personal health care. Mr. Ketchen's father, Mansel, was the hospital's first chairman and helped build the facility 50 years ago. Mr. Ketchen has also been a director of the hospital's foundation for nearly 10 years.
About a year ago, the foundation asked Mr. Ketchen to help lead a fundraising drive for the hospital's cardiac care facility.
"I thought, okay, somebody needs to start this off, we need $15-million," he said.
Mr. Ketchen kicked in $1-million and was joined on the campaign by Mississauga's long-time mayor, Hazel McCallion. The campaign ended a few weeks ago and met its goal.
Mr. Ketchen expects to stay involved with the hospital and, given his good health, he has no plans to retire.
"I feel well, I enjoy coming to work, I work with a bunch of interesting folks," he said. "Where can I be entertained like I'm being entertained here?"
After 52 years of following the markets, Mr. Ketchen added that he is not phased by the recent turmoil.
"Once you've seen it once, you've seen it twice, you've seen it 10 times. It's likely that if I stay here a while longer, I'll see it again."