Leaving a Legacy in Gratitude — to Advance Research

“Doing well by doing good — it’s what my broker always says,” explains Regan Hunt of her and her late husband Lorrie’s plan to bequest publicly traded shares in their will to the BC Cancer Foundation.

“It’s increasingly beneficial to the estate,” she says, because donating publicly traded securities — such as stocks, bonds or mutual funds — in-kind to a registered charity eliminates capital gains tax and provides a tax credit for the full market value at the time of the donation.

While the tax benefits of donating publicly listed securities are a welcome bonus, they’re not what drives Regan in continuing the legacy she and Lorrie planned together to support cancer research in B.C.

Their true motivation lies in their personal journey — Lorrie was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in his 50s and faced an intense course of treatment that included chemotherapy, radiation and ultimately, a challenging bone marrow transplant.

“It was basically two years before he was back up on his feet, approaching his former energy levels, but he did get there,” says Regan who is grateful treatment at BC Cancer allowed her and Lorrie another 15 years together before he died in 2020.

Honouring a Life Dedicated to Research

Regan and Lorrie both attended BCIT — Lorrie left UBC where he was studying chemistry to pursue a Diploma of Technology in Pollution Treatment, with a focus on water and wastewater treatment, at the Burnaby polytechnic institution.

“It was early days in environmental science,” says Regan. “His first job out of BCIT was at B.C. Research and he stayed there until he retired. Not many people can say that.”

Lorrie spent his career conducting environmental sampling programs and contaminated site risk investigations and management projects to benefit the planet.

Through a gift to the Foundation in his and Regan’s estate plans his legacy will advance life-changing research of another kind — in CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell) immunotherapy, a highly personalized cancer treatment that harnesses a patient’s own immune system by engineering their T cells to better recognize and destroy cancer cells.

Regan is inspired by the potential of CAR-T immunotherapy to significantly reduce side effects for patients. It’s a breakthrough that wasn’t available to Lorrie in 2005, when he underwent a high-risk bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor. His body initially rejected the transplant, leading to painful skin complications and a seven-week hospital stay.

Remembering a Loved One through Philanthropy

Married in 1972, Regan and Lorrie didn’t have children but devoted themselves to their careers and each other, purchasing a farm on Salt Spring Island in 1987. After Lorrie’s recovery, and their retirement, they left their home in Delta and moved to the Island.

“We lived in a 400-square-foot suite in a workshop that was the only building on the site at the time while we built our dream house. We moved into our home in 2010, so Lorrie had seven good years there. We both loved it, and I’m really glad he had a reasonable amount of time, in good health, to enjoy it.”

In the five years since Lorrie passed, Regan has hired help to manage the 11-and-a-half acres and hopes to stay in their home as long as she can.

“It’s bittersweet in a way because he’s not here,” she says, but there are memories of their time all around her — and thanks to their shared legacy to advance research for other families who will face cancer, Lorrie will be remembered well beyond the boundaries of their beloved farm.

Through a bequest in her will, Regan is ensuring Lorrie’s enduring commitment to advancing science for the people of British Columbia will live on.