‘It’s bad’: B.C. family’s desperate plea after teen’s surgery cancelled 4 times

A British Columbia family says the province’s ongoing delay of surgeries due to COVID-19 pressures could cost their son his ability to walk.

Fourteen-year-old Devin Gallant has Type-3 Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a genetic disease that causes the body’s muscles to waste away.

In September 2020 he was told he needed surgery to correct a worsening curve in his spine — surgery the family was told last summer was an emergency.

He was finally booked for the procedure in December, only to have it cancelled four times, two of them at the last minute. He hasn’t seen a timeline for when it might be rescheduled.

“I want it as soon as possible,” Devin told Global News.

“It was pretty frustrating going in there at like five o’clock, six o’clock in the morning, and me getting all ready in my gown and, and then the doctors coming in and telling me that it’s cancelled.”

In December, the province announced that due to mounting pressure on hospitals from the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, it was cancelling scheduled surgeries starting in January.

2:13 B.C. health minister defends decision to postpone surgeries

There have also been ongoing sporadic postponements at various hospitals in different health authorities, and between Sept. 5 and Jan. 15, patients have had 5,111 surgeries cancelled.

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix has defended the cancellations as unfortunate but necessary to keep the health-care system operating.

“No one in health care, no member of any surgical team, no one who has trained and whose life’s work it is to get patients the surgery they need, wants to call a patient and tell them their surgery is postponed,” Dix said last week.

“The decisions about surgical postponements or changes or when surgeries take place, are decisions made by doctors, and I think that’s the important issue here,” he added.

Dix has pledged that every surgery that is cancelled will be rescheduled.

Devin’s mother Mandy said the family has been told her son’s surgery likely won’t happen this month, and that officials don’t have a schedule for February either.

She said she was told the cancellation was due to a lack of ICU beds and nursing staff.

“If Devin doesn’t get surgery, his curve is so bad that it’s going to affect his breathing, it’s going to push into his lungs, it’s going to push into his spleen, it’s going to push into his ribs, it’s going to push into his heart … it’s bad,” she said.

“With SMA there’s always so many unknowns, we don’t know when he’s going to lose his ability to walk. Now with the surgery being cancelled, if he doesn’t get surgery it could be the wrong snap and then Devin’s paralyzed.”

Currently, Devin is only able to walk a few steps, and his mother said his condition continues to deteriorate rapidly.

They’re also fighting for access to treatment with one of two drugs approved to fight SMA in Canada, but say he has been denied coverage in British Columbia because he is too old and has the limited ability to walk.

For Devin, the most important thing is to get into the operating room as soon as possible, so he can begin the long road to recovery.

“It will make me a lot stronger and be able to do more stuff,” he said.

“Right now I can’t even hang out with my friends because I can’t get out of my wheelchair.”

Supporters of the family have launched a GoFundMe campaign, which has raised about $25,000.