School of Business

For some, college isn’t about gaining a title and a high-paying job: it’s about learning the skills needed in improving your health and surviving what life throws at you.

Brynn McLennan, a graduate of Algonquin’s Business Administration—Human Resources program, has lived with muscular dystrophy for most of her life.  She is currently running a successful campaign called Stem Cells for Brynn, which aims to raise funds for McLennan to travel to Mexico for stem cell treatments.

“Because of all the different courses within the business program, it helped me to gain better knowledge; setting up the website, campaigning, speaking to people, marketing,” says McLennan, who graduated in 2006.  “It’s helped me, and I didn’t know it was going to help me.”

While she firmly believes that she will be cured of the disease and rebuild muscle that she’s lost, McLennan’s hope for the future is to turn the campaign into a foundation to help others in her situation and raise awareness about the benefits of stem cell research/treatments.

“It’s actually pretty powerful, when you get a group of people together, what you can actually accomplish,” says McLennan.  The top lesson she’s learned on her journey thus far is that she’s not alone: there many people out there willing to help her, as well as others like her who need help.  The first three Stem Cells for Brynn events, in 2010, raised $60,000 for her cause.

“It’s an unreal feeling, that’s hard to even put into words, it’s so great.”

After returning from her first stem cell treatment in Mexico, McLennan noticed definite improvements in her condition.  “There’s more fluidity in my motion; I don’t feel as jerky,” she says.  “I feel like my head is clearer, almost like the signal from my brain to my muscle is quicker.”

She describes driving home from work in the days after her first treatment, and how a simple task like pulling into her garage and gathering her things before going into the house was easier.

“I used to have to sit there and take a second, breathe, and be like, ‘ok, what do I need out of the car, how am I going to carry it in, what am I gonna hold,’ that kind of stuff.  What I started to notice, is that I would pull into the garage, turn off the key, pick things up and go in the house.”

McLennan believes that Canada’s government should be taking quicker action in making stem cell treatments available to people here at home.  “I hope to create awareness so that we can fast-track our sciences in North America and try to get this to be available to people and covered in our health care system,” she says.

“Currently you can get stem cells for your dog, at the vet.  It would be great if we can actually get it for people.”

Author: Christine Kokic, Algonquin Journalism Alumni 2011

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