Friends are rallying around a North Okanagan woman in urgent need of back surgery that will likely have to happen outside Canada.
Jasmine Jade organized a GoFundMe campaign for best friend Nadine Clements, who has been on a wait-list for surgery in B.C. for three years.
Clements has a disc that is pressing on her spinal cord.
She started having symptoms in 2019 and, having had similar surgery years ago, she knew what to expect.
Clements immediately sought an MRI and neurosurgeon referrals. Due to backlogs, the MRI was going to take nine months, so she paid $350 for a private MRI in Mexico, where her father lives, in November 2019.
Since then, she has seen many doctors, but has not yet been able to see a neurosurgeon in B.C.
Numerous medications have been tried to help control nerve pain from the condition, which started in her neck and shoulder and is now in her arm, elbow and hand.
Clements has hardly any use of her dominate right hand and is in constant pain.
She returned to Mexico last month to get another MRI, see a neurosurgeon — and find out the cost of the surgery she will need.
Degenerative disc disease is genetic, and her father has already had similar surgery in Mexico.
Meanwhile, she is on cancellation lists here in B.C. and follows up with her family doctor monthly.
The best answer she has received in Canada is that she will be seen in two to three months, and surgery could follow an unknown length of time after that.
The neurosurgeon in Mexico has told her she doesn't have a few months.
The risks are considerable the longer she waits, including possible paralysis.
Surgery in Mexico could happen immediately, which would cost $15,000 to $18,000.
"They will go in from the front, move all the organs and replace the C5/6 disc with a titanium disc," says Jade.
Physio would be required to get her neck moving again, and medications will add a few thousand dollars. She can stay at her father's after the surgery.
"The chances of her getting in anytime soon (in B.C.) is slim, while her condition progresses," says Jade.
"We love that our health care is free in Canada, but the medical system is understaffed and backlogged due to COVID-19. Thankfully there is another avenue."
As of Tuesday, the campaign had raised $1,045 toward a goal of $22,000.
