It is with much sadness that we report that, after a long and courageous battle with cancer, Dr. Victor Stanley Blanchette passed away on April 26, 2024.
Dr. Blanchette was a leader in the treatment of bleeding disorders in children. In his 41 years of working at Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, he transformed pediatric hematology and oncology care not only locally, but nationally and internationally as well.
As an advocate for the provision of safe factor concentrates, Dr. Blanchette played a key role in bringing recombinant factor VIII and high purity factor IX to the hemophilia community in Canada. Dr. Blanchette also contributed to many Canadian Hemophilia Society (CHS) publications, including its landmark publication, All About Hemophilia: A Guide for Families (2001).
Dr. Blanchette’s commitment to the Canadian bleeding disorder community extended to his support of the WFH Canadian hemophilia treatment centre (HTC) twinning partnership between the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados, and Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children and St. Michael Hospital (from 2018 to 2022) and in the establishment of the Trinidad and Tobago/Toronto HTC twinning partnership in 2023. Dr. Blanchette was an invaluable member of the CHS International Committee from 2018 to 2023.
All his countless accomplishments were rooted in his caring, compassionate and dedicated nature. Dr. Blanchette was someone who always cared deeply for his patients, his trainees, his colleagues, and most of all, his family. He will be greatly missed by the global bleeding disorder community and particularly by the Canadian community.
Dr. Blanchette’s family is deeply grateful to the entire palliative care team and volunteers at Ian Anderson House in Oakville, who made his final days ones of calm and peace, and allowed his family invaluable moments with him. A private service will be held on Saturday, May 11, 2024. In lieu of flowers or gifts, donations may be made to the Ian Anderson House (ianandersonhouse.com).
Hemophilia Ontario has set up a virtual memorial page for the Dr. Blanchette’s family, in hopes of giving our community an easy, free way to express their condolences, gratitude and share their stories of their time with Dr. Blanchette. Please click on the following link if you wish to leave a message: www.kudoboard.com/boards/DqKpLANA.
For more details, please find below a link to his obituary:
https://obituaries.thestar.com/obituary/dr-victor-blanchette-1089692740
