Penticton resident says cancer centre ignored calls, delayed treatment

The cancer had already spread to her lymph nodes, and with that, she feared cancer would continue to spread before her surgery date.

In August of 2021, Sharon McIntyre was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 70. Fortunately, it was caught in the early stages, when the lump was just pea-sized.

After the diagnosis, the Penticton resident was referred to the cancer clinic in Kelowna by her doctor for further treatment and was advised to give them a call. To her surprise, all of McIntyre’s calls went unanswered.

“I kept calling the cancer centre and most of the time I would never ever get an answer, sometimes there would be an answering machine, and I would be able to leave a message but I never ever got any return phone calls,” said McIntyre.

This went on for about six weeks until McIntyre decided to call her doctor to tell them she was getting no response from the clinic, and that’s what prompted the phone call that she had been waiting for.

“I said well why are you letting me die and she goes, ‘well what do you mean, they haven’t done anything?’ and I said no, nobody has even contacted me they won’t do anything and she says leave it with me.”

“Well, 10 minutes later I get a call from the cancer centre.”

McIntyre was then put on a six-month chemotherapy regimen in January, followed by surgery to have her breast removed.

When it came time to book a surgery date, McIntyre felt ignored again.