{"id":345012,"date":"2025-10-31T07:01:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T07:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/345012\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T07:01:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T07:01:24","slug":"boy-with-cancers-chemo-appointment-cancelled-amid-stollery-space-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/345012\/","title":{"rendered":"Boy with cancer\u2019s chemo appointment cancelled amid Stollery space shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having a kid with cancer<\/a> is already a parent\u2019s worst nightmare. An Edmonton family is dealing with the added stress of being turned away from their scheduled chemotherapy session and sent home.<\/p>\n

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\u201cReally, really disheartening, really frustrating and really stressful,\u201d said Erica Thomas about their experience this week at the Stollery Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

For patients who knows how the process works, it\u2019s also frustrating and scary.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy world (was) turned upside down,\u201d said 11-year-old Ben Thomas, who is dealing with a relapse of his cancer.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI kind of got really upset, I was really angry and \u2026 just didn\u2019t feel normal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ben has been through the cancer treatment process before and knows what to expect:\u00a0\u201cThe first time around we never, I don\u2019t think we ever, waited around for a bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ben was first diagnosed 5.5 years ago with nephroblastoma, also known as Wilms tumor<\/a> \u2014 a kidney cancer that primarily affects children under the age of five, that can spread to other parts of the body.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKids with Cancer Society: Meet Ben, 5, in treatment for a Wilms\u2019 tumor\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Ben successfully battled the cancer and was considered to be in remission until a relapse was found in his right lung.<\/p>\n

His mom Erica said that makes him a high-risk patient that needs to stay on track with his chemotherapy treatments.<\/p>\n

He receives his chemo every three weeks at the Stollery Children\u2019s Hospital and it\u2019s a three-day inpatient process each time, where he gets a different type of chemotherapy on each day.<\/p>\n

Chemo treatments are carefully scheduled: too often and a patient\u2019s depleted white blood cell count doesn\u2019t have time to recover, putting them at risk of infection and other health issues because they essentially have no immune system \u2014 but having chemo too far apart comes with the risk of it not being effective.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tFile photo from when Ben Thomas first battled cancer more than five years ago.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tErica Thomas\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s treatments are all carefully scheduled to align with other tests, procedures and meetings with specialists.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re doing two rounds of this pretty high-dose chemo to see how his tumours \u2014 his four tumours in his right lung \u2014 how those will react,\u201d Erica explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that they\u2019ll do a CT scan and then meet with the tumour board to discuss what the next steps are \u2014 because unfortunately with relapses, it\u2019s not a clear-cut path. It\u2019s a little bit of trial-and-error.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI call it a really crappy choose-your-own-adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That adventure took an unexpected twist when the Thomas family went to the Edmonton children\u2019s hospital on Wednesday for their second round of treatment since the relapse was discovered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told that there are no beds in inpatient and that Ben is actually number four on the list waiting for a bed,\u201d his mom of four said.<\/p>\n

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They weren\u2019t alone. Erica overheard another child being told they were fifth in line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that kid lives about four hours away and so they had travelled in for chemo and were sent away.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Thomas family was also sent away.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe were basically told to go home and wait for a phone call.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The mother asked if there was anywhere else they could go, if the chemo could be an outpatient procedure, but no alternatives were available.<\/p>\n

Erica said the doctors and nurses at the Stollery appeared to be as much at a loss as the family was.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe staff there were incredible,\u201d Erica said. \u201cYou could see (they were) super frustrated and stressed about the situation as well.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s only so much they can do with the resources and the space that they have.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Global News reached out to Alberta Health Services about the situation but did not hear back as of publishing.<\/p>\n

Overcrowding and a lack of beds is nothing new at the hospital-within-a-hospital: The Stollery physically exists inside part of the University of Alberta Hospital.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe weren\u2019t really given an explanation, just that they\u2019re full \u2014 and we\u2019re no stranger to that happening at the Stollery.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The current Stollery Children\u2019s Hospital in Edmonton has 236 bed and is the second largest children\u2019s hospital in Canada. It has among the highest inpatient volumes of any children\u2019s hospital in Canada, according to the province.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFile photo from when Ben Thomas first battled cancer more than five years ago.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tErica Thomas\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

While her son\u2019s relapse makes his case more urgent than first-time cancer cases, Erica said she feels guilty even thinking he should be bumped ahead of other kids because every case involving a child feels urgent.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoctor shouldn\u2019t be put in a position where they have to figure out who needs it more. There should be space,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Erica said their experience highlights the urgent need for growth \u2014 for the Stollery to move into its own standalone building.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s something we absolutely need in northern Alberta and in Edmonton, something also needs to happen immediately to address the shortage of beds so that kids like Ben can get the chemo they need on the timeline they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

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