COVID-19: Saskatchewan woman scared after surgery in Alberta cancelled

A Saskatchewan woman says she is worried she will lose her eyesight or possibly die after a surgery scheduled in Alberta for a rare cancer in her face was cancelled.

A Saskatchewan woman says she is worried she will lose her eyesight or possibly die after a surgery scheduled in Alberta for a rare cancer in her face was cancelled because she’s not a resident and hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

Sharon Durham said she was driving to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton from her farm near Wynyard, Sask., on Monday when she received a call about the 18-hour surgery she was to have the next day for the invasive cancer in her nose and under her eyes.

“They said it was cancelled because they’re not doing surgeries on out-of-province people right now, even though I’m a patient (in Alberta) and have already (had) two surgeries by my doctors there,” Durham, 54, said in a phone interview.

“The cancer has already spread down to the corner of my left eye, so (the doctor is saying), ‘You’ll probably be losing your eyesight.’ I can deal with that but, if it goes into my brain, I can’t deal with that and neither can my family.

“That’s game over.”

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Alberta Health Services did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

Last month, the health provider announced that non-essential surgeries were being cancelled as hospitals and intensive care capacity were filled beyond normal limits because of the province’s crippling fourth wave of COVID-19.