Eric Strom doesn’t hesitate when asked why he gives back.
“Dr. Ashrafi saved my life.”
At 75, Eric didn’t expect to become a patient. He had always been active. From being an athlete and ski instructor, to being a lifelong lover of the outdoors. After retiring at 55 as a power engineer, he and his wife spent years travelling the world, visiting every continent except Antarctica.
“I’m from Prince George,” he laughs. “I’ve seen enough snow.”
It was during a routine physical about ten years ago that everything changed. Because of a past smoking history, Eric’s family doctor sent him for a precautionary lung X-ray. Two days later, he received a call that stopped him in his tracks: doctors had found a spot on the lower lobe of his right lung.
What followed were months of scans, tests, and uncertainty. PET scans. CT scans. A bronchoscopy. A needle biopsy. Doctors believed the mass might be an infection and placed him on antibiotics, but no one could say for certain what it was.
Then came complications. After one biopsy, Eric developed a pneumothorax (air leaking outside the lung), and soon after, he began coughing up blood and experiencing chest pain.
“I was scared,” he says. “I didn’t know what was happening, and I didn’t have any answers.”
The biopsy results were inconclusive. Doctors gave him two options: continue antibiotics and monitor the mass for another six months, or see a thoracic surgeon who specialized in cancer.
Eric didn’t hesitate.
“That referral changed everything.”
He was directly connected with Dr. Ahmad Ashrafi, Regional Division Head & Chief of Thoracic Surgery.
From their initial meeting, Eric felt a shift in his confidence.
“Dr. Ashrafi was calm, professional and clear,” Eric recalls. “He walked me through everything. For the first time in a long while, I felt reassured.”
After reviewing the tests, Dr. Ashrafi recommended surgery. Even then, the uncertainty remained. Was it cancer? Was it something else?
Eric underwent surgery while his wife stayed near the hospital. Dr. Ashrafi called Eric’s wife personally.
“It wasn’t cancer,” he told her. However, they did confirm the presence of a mass, an abnormal growth, which was promptly removed and could have become life-threatening if left untreated.
“He saved my life,” Eric says simply.
This moment was pivotal in how Eric viewed his perspective.
Since then, Eric has donated every year to Surrey Memorial Hospital in Dr. Ashrafi’s name.
“I give to support the man who saved my life,” he says. “And so, he and others like him can continue helping people like me.”
For Eric, giving isn’t about gratitude alone. It’s about ensuring that exceptional physicians and care teams have the tools, technology, and support they need to deliver life-saving care – today and into the future.
“When people complain about hospitals, my wife and I look at each other and say, ‘We have no complaints,’” Eric says. “We’ve seen what’s possible when great people are supported.”
When you support Surrey Hospitals Foundation, you’re doing exactly that. Empowering health care professionals with the resources they need to continue providing exceptional care to patients when it matters most.
