Woman seeks funding for husband’s U.S. medical trip

After months spent bouncing between specialists and countless tests, a Preeceville man is headed to an American clinic in a last-ditch effort to discover what’s causing his drastic weight loss and other serious symptoms.

“It’s awful. You feel totally helpless,” Keri Gardner said of watching her husband Rodney, 46, suffer.

Diagnosis and treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., could cost tens of thousands of dollars, so Keri is leading a public campaign to get the cost of the trip covered by the province.

She presented a Change.org petition with about 6,700 signatures to Health Minister Jim Reiter’s chief of staff on Thursday.

“I held up my husband’s before picture and after picture and I said ‘you need to take a look at this, this is a real person.’ ”

Rodney saw his family doctor in December after he’d lost 30 pounds. He was thirsty, urinating frequently, and felt dizzy and tired. Months of tests failed to diagnose the problem. By mid-July, he was suffering vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, nausea and abdominal pain.. The 6-foot2 man has dropped to 169 pounds from 210 pounds last year.

Finally, on Aug. 17, a Saskatoon urologist noted an abnormality in his kidney. There’s a four- to sixweek wait for tests to be done.

Keri fears that’s too late. Instead, his first appointment at the Mayo Clinic is scheduled for Sept. 7. A deposit alone cost the couple $7,000.

Rodney’s urologist has issued a referral but it hasn’t yet been sent to the health minister, she said.

The ministry must approve funding prior to a specialist referring a patient for treatment outside of Canada a health ministry official told Gardner.