'You have changed my life': Strangers reach out after doctor dies of cancer

Matthew Morton poses with his children and wife in this undated family photo.

The widow of a well-known Toronto doctor says thousands of friends and strangers have reached out since her husband lost his battle with brain cancer.

Obstetrician Matthew Morton suffered from glioblastoma multiforme, a type of incurable cancer that causes brain tumours to grow quickly and spread to nearby tissues. The father of three succumbed to the disease on Aug. 27.

Since his death, Morton's wife said she's been touched by messages from thousands of people who have reached out to her.

"It's so heartwarming and kind. It really helps me sleep at night," Heidi Wilk told CTVNews.ca on Wednesday.

She said more than 20,000 people read a eulogy she posted on an online women's magazine last week, and another post she'd written about the "saddest summer of my life" reached more than 75,000 people worldwide.

The family knew the diagnosis since 2009, but Wilk said they did their best to stay positive during her husband's final years.

"People couldn't believe how happy we were. We really just enjoyed life," Wilk said.

She wrote several blog posts online since learning of the diagnosis, and has received countless emails, cards and letters from people who were touched by their story.

"Most of them start out with, 'I've never met you, but you have changed my life,'" she said.

On Thursday, Morton's wife Heidi Wilk took to Facebook to announce that the father of three had succumbed to the disease.

"Matthew's courageous battle is over. He is peaceful and in heaven now," Wilk wrote on the day of his death.

Morton worked as a doctor in Montreal and Toronto, and continued to see patients despite his diagnosis.

He also worked with University of Toronto medical students, and was honoured with an award for excellence in residency education in June. The award had to be brought to his room in a palliative care facility, because he was too sick to leave.

Morton was described by friends and former patients on a memorial website as a sweet person with a warm smile.

"He had an incredible passion and intensity for everything he undertook to do, whether in his professional/work life, keeping himself fit, his studies, his family," one person wrote.

"It was an honour to know you Matt," another posted.

Yet another former patient wrote that Morton had been her OB during her first pregnancy: "The physical and emotional care I received was amazing and I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to be taken care of by such a wonderful doctor."

Another patient write that Morton had been at the hospital for hours during a surgery she'd had during pregnancy. She said despite the lengthy shift, she woke up from surgery to find the doctor holding her hand. "I needed to know that you and your baby were okay," Morton told her.

Morton spoke to CTV Toronto in June about life with the deadly diagnosis.

At the time, he told CTV Toronto's Pauline Chan that his greatest worry was about his children, and "not being able to be there to provide them with guidance and structure and things I feel are important."

Morton was remembered in a funeral on Friday at Benjamin's Park Memorial Chapel, located at 2401 Steeles Ave., just west of Dufferin Street. He was laid to rest at the Pardes Chaim Cemetery, at 11818 Bathurst St. in Vaughan.

The family has asked that anyone wishing to make a memorial donation contribute to Chai Lifeline Canada, an organization that supports families of sick children.