Press Release

Dying woman stuck in Calgary By CARL CLUTCHEY
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

For those fortunate to be in good health, being stuck in Calgary with that city‘s view of the Rockies might not be such a bad thing. But if you‘ve been diagnosed with terminal cancer, as Thunder Bay‘s Susan McChristie has, then you would naturally want to come back to the Lakehead as quickly as possible to be with your family.“The doctors said she has only four to eight weeks left to live, so the biggest thing now is to get her home with her family,” Thunder Bay‘s Paul Langis, who is McChristie‘s brother-in-law, said Tuesday.

The trouble is, McChristie, 35, who has been lying in a Calgary hospital bed for the past six weeks, can‘t just get on an ordinary commerical flight. A cancerous leg Calgary specialists were to ampute has swollen badly, said Langis, and McChristie, who is on extreme painkillers, can‘t sit up in a normal seat. Langis said McChristie, a provincial clerk, has been told her leg operation is no longer feasible because her condition has worsened.
When she flew to Calgary on her own six weeks ago, she was still able to get around on crutches and took a commerical flight.

To come back to Thunder Bay, she needs to be able to lie down in a plane that can accommodate her, like an air ambulance. Langis said the cheapest flight that can provide the service, even with an airline that caters to compassionate requests, could cost as much as $20,000. Another quote came in at $40,000, Langis said.

The Chronicle-Journal asked Ontario‘s Ministry of Health why it can‘t send an air ambulance to pick up McChristie on compassionate grounds, but did not receive an immediate reply Tuesday. The high cost of getting his sister-in-law home seems to point to a gap in the country‘s health-care system, said Langis, since Calgary was deemed to be the only place that could perform the ampuation.“She flew out there, and now they‘re telling me that she could die out there,” Langis said. A trust fund to help pay for McChristie‘s return has been set up at branches of TD Canada Trust and Northern Lights Credit Union. A benefit for McChristie is to take place Thursday at Thunder Bay‘s Sports Dome, 6-11 p.m.

Follow up story

Airline, donors pitch in to get dying woman back to her home

A Thunder Bay woman with terminal cancer arrived home Thursday afternoon after an outpouring of public support to pay for the flight that she couldn't afford.

Susan McChristie, 35, flew to Calgary six weeks ago where she was scheduled to have a cancerous leg amputated. But she found out the disease had spread and the surgery was no longer feasible. McChristie was told she had four weeks to live and was too ill to board a regular flight, requiring a special flight that would accommodate a hospital bed if she wanted to go home to die.

Her family contacted media outlets, which ran stories on McChristie's plight, and a Thunder Bay airline quickly offered to fly her home immediately and accept payment when the family raised the estimated $10,000 it would cost. Donations almost total that amount already.
Ontario's Ministry of Health does not provide air ambulances for someone in McChristie's position.

Global Angel was contacted by the MPP in Thunderbay to request assistance for this family. We worked closely with the hospital in Calgary to secure appropriate air ambulance service along with the family to set up fundraising in Thunderbay to cover the costs of the Medical Evacuation that within 72 hours of receiving the request for Help.