Although plenty of hurdles remain, an Estevan man and his family have been given some much-needed good news by the provincial government.
After initially fearing they would be shut out by the province, Jeff Lukye and his wife Keri learned Thursday the Ministry of Health would be paying his medical costs for a risky, out of country cancer surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Health Minister Don McMorris made the announcement Thursday morning during Question Period in the Saskatchewan Legislature. His declaration was a huge relief for the family who had been faced with the possibility of a $200,000 to $300,000 bill for the surgery.
"We were surprised," said Keri in an interview with The Mercury. "I had to ask a few times when the guy from the Ministry of Health called. He said 'OK, we've got your referral letter and the follow up documents we need.' I thought he said it was under review and just as he kept on talking on the phone, I said let me clarify here, you need to review this yet, do you not? He said 'no, no, no this is all approved.'"
That call from the Ministry of Health capped off what had been a turbulent couple of days for the Lukyes. On Wednesday the family had resigned itself to the fact they would not be receiving any funding from the province due to their inability to secure a letter of referral from Jeff's oncologist in Regina.
According to ministry regulations, the province will not pay for an out of province or out of country surgery unless a specialist in a related field provides a referral letter saying the surgery or procedure cannot be performed in Canada.
However, a glimmer of hope appeared later in the day when an official from the ministry told The Mercury that they were still looking at the Lukye file and no denial of coverage had been made.
With the story beginning to gain attention throughout the province, McMorris stepped up in the legislature to confirm that the ministry had gotten the referral letter clearing the final roadblock to Lukye's funding.
Speaking to The Mercury Monday, McMorris said although there had been some question as to whether or not Luyke would receive funding, the confusion was due in large part to procedural issues surrounding the letter of referral.
"We hadn't received any request from the specialist," he said. "We can't approve until a specialist makes a recommendation and a specialist hadn't made any recommendation one way or the other. If the specialists aren't in favour of that (treatment) or thinks it can be done here in Canada, then they won't recommend out of country. In this case, once this specialist was given all the information they put in a recommendation to the ministry, the ministry looked at it and decided with the recommendation with the specialist it would be covered."
McMorris said he wishes the best to the Lukye family and is happy the province was able to help out a family in need.
"To be able to help on the financial end is nice. You wish this never did happen and you wish that, first of all, we could maybe deliver the care here, but having said that, being able to cover out of country coverage in this specific is certainly nice."
For the Lukye family, the government's decision not only lifted a significant financial burden off their shoulders, it will allow them focus to Jeff's health and his upcoming surgeries.
"Obviously there are still a lot of financial hurdles with both of us being off work for the next few months, accommodations, travel, possible house renovations that will have be done when we get back. But just having the surgical and medical costs covered the rest we'll deal with. We can use our private insurance now to just to balance off the rest of the costs. They really came through that was wonderful. Now we worry about what's important."
The Lukyes will be leaving for Rochester Thursday in preparation for Jeff's first appointment on Monday. Jeff initially battled colon cancer two years ago and left with the belief that he was cancer free. However he has since learned from doctors in Minnesota that all the cancer was not removed and it has now spread to his hip and pelvis. He received that unfortunate news Aug. 25.
Upon arriving in Minnesota, Lukye will first receive chemotherapy and radiation treatments leading up to the first arthroscopic procedure so doctors can confirm what the scans showed them.
If all goes well, the second surgery, will go later in December. Lukye said this will be the most significant and riskiest of the three surgeries as doctors will remove a significant amount of his midsection to clear the cancer out.
"They'll remove my leg, part of my hip, pelvis, bladder, prostate and three-quarters of the sacrum," he said
The third surgery will involve doctors reattaching Lukye's spine with what is left of his pelvis area.
"The second surgery, they figure it will take 15 to 20 hours which is more than enough for one person to handle," said Keri. "They can't reattach him at that point, it would just be too much. They will leave him two to three weeks to regain some strength before they go in and place the rod and screws to put him back together."
While Lukye is waging his battle against cancer in Minnesota, the community will continue to throw their support behind the family in Estevan.
A fundraising breakfast is being held Wednesday morning at TS&M. A cabaret is also scheduled for Saturday night at the Wylie-Mitchell Hall. Other groups including the Elks have also contributed to the family.
"The support has been pretty overwhelming actually," said Keri. "It's a wonderful community."
