Mary Jean Irving presented the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Foundation with a donation of $750,000 on Tuesday for the purchase of a new digital mammography unit.

While the contribution was made on behalf of her company, Master Packaging, Irving said the donation was personal. In 2005 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and told she only had months to live.

She received extensive treatment in Boston, and now that she's healthy again, she said she wants her hometown to be able to offer the same level of care.

Irving's donation, paired with the Charlottetown hospital's fundraising efforts over the last year, means the QEH now has enough money to replace both of its existing mammography units. The two current units use film; one is nine years old and the other is eight.

Machines breaking down

Head of radiology Dr. Kim Hender said both units are in desperate need of replacement. The older machine has been breaking down regularly and is reaching the point where it can no longer be repaired.

The mammography procedure for patients will not change with the new units, but the pictures won't have to be developed and so will be available more quickly, and it will be easier to move them around for specialists to read.

The new machines are due to arrive in four to six months.