When Waiting Means Fleeing: One Canadian’s Fight for Real Cancer Care
- Abdominal Cancers Alliance
- Sep 30
- 2 min read
Kristin Logan’s story is nothing short of heartbreaking—and revealing. A healthy mother, veteran, wife, and resident of British Columbia, she once took for granted the promise of Canada’s health care. But after falling ill in Spring 2023, her life turned into a bitter struggle, not just with cancer, but with a system that failed to respond in time.
A Diagnosis Missed – Until It Was Too Late
It began with symptoms that many would find alarming: irregular menstruation, severe bloating so pronounced she appeared “eight months pregnant.” Despite these signs, initial care in a Vancouver Island hospital dismissed her symptoms as irritable bowel syndrome. Only after her husband insisted on more thorough investigations was an abdominal scan ordered. That’s when she received the devastating diagnosis: Stage 4 ovarian cancer.
Doctors Fail, System Delays Persist
Kristin faced not only medical challenges but systemic ones. She encountered long delays in getting a consultation with an oncologist, waiting lists for diagnostic scans, and what many patients report as insufficient triage. According to media reports, this is not a rare situation in British Columbia—many patients die while waiting.
Fleeing for Care
Feeling that she was being left to die, Kristin made a dramatic and painful decision: she left Canada—twice—to try to access adequate care. Her first trip was to the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. She felt immediate relief: care, attention, diagnostics—things that should have started in BC. But six months later, the deterioration of the health‐care system brought her back to the same dire situation. So she once more fled to Seattle.
The Larger Problem
Kristin’s story isn’t just a tragedy; it’s a symptom of broader health‐care challenges:
Wait times: Patients in BC have reportedly waited so long for scans or to see oncologists that some are in life‐threatening circumstances by the time help arrives.
Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis: Early symptoms may be overlooked, judged benign, or misattributed, until the disease is much more advanced.
Barrier to access: When provincial health care fails, only those with resources or determination can seek treatment elsewhere—at great personal, financial, and emotional cost.
What Needs to Change
For stories like Kristin’s to become less common, the following are essential:
Faster diagnostic pathways — Particularly for symptoms that could signal serious disease (e.g. unexplained bloating, irregular bleeding).
Reduced wait times for specialists and scans, perhaps through increased funding, staffing, or system re‐engineering.
Better triage protocols to ensure red‐flag cases are flagged early and escalated appropriately.
Transparency and accountability — Patients and the public need reliable data about delays, outcomes, and where bottlenecks are so system failures can be addressed.
Kristin Logan’s journey is a reminder: access to timely, appropriate care is not a luxury—it is a matter of life and death. Until all parts of the health‐care system deliver on that promise, stories like hers will continue to haunt us.
