SASKATCHEWAN NDP BEGS PREMIER, MINISTER TO HELP REGINA WOMAN GET SURGERY FOR PARATHYROID DISEASE

Without Urgent Help, Patient May Pursue the Medically Assisted Death She Has Already Been Approved For

REGINA – A Regina woman in desperate need of a specialist to treat a rare form of parathyroid disease says she’s at a breaking point and will follow through on a medically-assisted death if Jeremy Cockrill and the Sask. Party doesn’t help her get the surgery she needs.

For eight years, Jolene Van Alstine has suffered from normocalcemic primary hyperparathryroidism (nPHPT), a disease that causes extreme bone pain, daily nausea and vomiting, overheating with bright red extremities, anxiety and depression due to social isolation.

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“I’m urging Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill to meet with Jolene, to hear her story and commit today to get her the surgery she needs,” said Jared Clarke, Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister Rural and Remote Health. “Nobody should be forced to choose between unbearable suffering and death. No family should be put in this position.”

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Van Alstine requires a complex surgery to remove her remaining parathyroid gland, but no Saskatchewan surgeon is able to perform the operation. She must be referred out of province but can’t obtain a referral without first being seen by an endocrinologist — none of whom are accepting new patients.

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“I feel like I’m at the end of the road so I’m hoping Minister Cockrill can help me,” said Van Alstine.

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Van Alstine and her husband said Miles Sundeen visited the Legislature today in hopes that Minister Cockrill would meet with them and commit to getting Van Alstine her procedure, even if it’s out of province.

Van Alstine has already applied and has been approved to pursue medical assistance in dying.

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“I understand how long and how much she’s suffered and it’s horrific, the physical suffering, but it’s also the mental anguish,” said Sundeen. “No hope — no hope for the future, no hope for any relief. I don’t want her to do it, but I understand where she’s at.”

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