A B.C. woman who decided to go south of the border and pay for her cancer treatment says she is now being shut out of the BC Cancer care system.
Sheila Vicic, 60, was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in August and by October she had still not started her treatment.
So she took matters into her own hands and decided to get chemotherapy in Bellingham, Wash., and pay the US$10,000 cost herself because she said the wait in B.C. was too long.
However, the Surrey resident said she is being denied any care, including followup care at the BC Cancer Agency, because she went to Bellingham.
Vicic said she had two treatments in Bellingham and kept calling the BC Cancer Agency so she could continue treatment close to home.
“At that point, I asked for a partnership with BC Cancer where I would continue my infusion meds (in Bellingham) because I have an infusion chair,” she explained.
“And if BC Cancer would support me with the oral meds and they weren’t willing to do that.”
So Vicic ended up having all her treatment in Bellingham.
“I’m kind of appalled that I’m in this position, but I’m not alone,” she said. “I think they’re great people. I think they’re probably passionate about cancer care, but there’s something systemically going wrong.
“I don’t know that if it was explained to me that by declining chemo support in British Columbia that I declined all BC Cancer Support, including the dietitian, the social worker, the counselling services.”
Vicic is receiving treatment at North Cascades Clinic in Bellingham, which is the same facility and oncologists that the B.C. government has referred hundreds of patients to in order to alleviate backlogs in B.C.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said Thursday that someone from the BC Cancer Agency will be contacting anyone who needs cancer care in B.C.
He did not provide any additional details for privacy reasons.
“In this case, we’ll be in touch, of course, as they’re still a B.C. resident in B.C. under the care of B.C. health care,” Dix said.
BC Cancer sent a statement to Global News saying it is up to an individual’s primary care providers to make referrals and BC Cancer can provide ongoing services but on a case-by-case basis.
“We’re a first-world country,” Vicic said.
“And we can do better — way, way better, not a little bit better. We can do massively better for the people who need cancer treatment and for the people who need every other, like family doctors.”
Vicic said a final round of chemo starts later this month and more treatment is scheduled for the new year, but as she fully admits she created her two-tiered health-care system and now she has to ride out her decision.
However, she said there are no regrets.
“I would just say for me, every week waiting, in my mind, was cancer winning.”
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