Saskatchewan woman fears for her life after surgery in Alberta was cancelled

WYNYARD, Sask. – A Saskatchewan woman says she is worried she will lose her eyesight or possibly die after a surgery scheduled in Alberta for a rare cancer in her face was cancelled because she’s not a resident and hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

Sharon Durham says she was driving to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton from her farm near Wynyard, Saskatchewan on Monday when she learned her surgery the next day was not going ahead.

She says she was told it was cancelled because she doesn’t live in Alberta.

Durham was diagnosed with the rare cancer in her nose and eyes in 2019 and already had two surgeries in Alberta to get it removed.

---

READ MORE:

• What’s it really like to die from COVID? Edmonton ICU doctor’s harrowing step-by-step account

• More COVID-positive pregnant women in ICU, AHS urges pregnant people get vaccinated

• New COVID cases remain on the rise in Friday update

---

She found out in August the cancer had returned.

Non-essential surgeries have been cancelled in Alberta because of a crippling fourth wave of COVID-19.

Durham says she’s angry at unvaccinated patients filling up hospitals for not caring about others.

She says her biggest fear now is that the cancer might spread to her brain.