'I'm very, very scared for his health': Sask. mom worried child might die before surgery

A Saskatchewan woman is worried her child might die before receiving life-saving surgery and tests as he sits on the province's surgical waitlist.

A Saskatchewan woman is worried her child might die before receiving life-saving surgery and tests as he sits on the province's surgical waitlist.

"I'm scared he's going to die in the meantime," Terry Hallet said. "Because that's our reality is the only thing that's going to save him right now is surgery."

Hallett's eight-year-old son Logan has been sick for roughly a year. Even though she's been a licensed practical nurse for 25 years in a variety of sectors of healthcare, she wasn't expecting how difficult it would be to navigate the healthcare system and see a professional as Logan's condition worsened.

"I'm very, very scared for his health, my health, my parents' health," she said. "Because it's not a matter of if the health care system is going to crumble, it's when. That's the state we're in now."

Hallett said it took until June to have Logan diagnosed with chiari malformation, in which a part of the brain presses down or bulges through an opening in the skull that joins the spinal cord.

Logan was originally told he would get a call back about surgery in one to three months, but that's since been pushed back, and Hallet has been warned her son could be further bumped as more urgent cases arise.