"My Wife's Diagnosis of Cancer"

My loving wife of over 40 years first showed signs of cancer in early 2025 with a focal seizure while exercising at a YMCA. She was a non-smoker who took good care of herself and wore sunscreen and hats outdoors religiously but nevertheless died by MAID of stage 4 metastasized melanoma in summer 2025. Our oncologist later said the initial skin blemish probably occurred years ago and might have been unnoticeable – that she died of melanoma was just plain bad luck! During the six months of diagnoses and treatment she received excellent care at Foothills Hospital and especially the new Arthur Child Cancer Centre in Calgary. However, she had three experiences at the Foothills ER during this period all of which were very poor and cast a cloud over an otherwise excellent public health institution.

If you were to look at Reviews and Ratings of Foothills ER, there are many examples of what I view as deplorable ratings. While there are a few positive reviews –it is clear that our bad experiences were not unique.

This story documents the first Foothills ER experience.

In early 2025 my wife suffered a focal seizure that lasted about 5 minutes while exercising at a YMCA in Calgary. The YMCA staff handled the situation very professionally and an ambulance was called which resulted in her being taken to the Foothills ER. After a long wait in the ER, she was finally examined by an ER doctor on staff who concluded that her electrolytes may have been low and that she should top them up before exercising – which she then started diligently to do. At that stage I was a new uninformed and inexperienced patient health advocate that didn’t yet understand that I should have insisted on a brain CT. If a person seizes on the gym floor for 5 minutes – it should be taken very seriously and steps taken immediately to determine the source.

 The following month she again suffered another focal seizure lasting about a minute at the same YMCA. We knew at that point that something was seriously amiss and upon the recommendation of our family physician we immediately undertook the following tests: a  brain CT, a brain MRI with contrast, and a CT CAP with oral and IV contrast all done the same month of the latest focal seizure and privately at Mayfair because we wanted immediate answers to our questions. These diagnostics confirmed the presence of 7 tumors in her brain including a very large one in her right frontal lobe and many lung tumors. The month following her initial testing a lung bronchoscopy was performed with subsequent microscopic and molecular studies, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 Melanoma. This cancer was so far advanced that despite immediate treatment it was too late.

When dealing with a very aggressive cancer – early diagnosis is essential. It will forever be unclear whether the 12-day delay in her diagnosis and treatment was significant in the final deadly outcome. Anecdotally we were fortunate that the CT indicated tumors as we were otherwise scheduled to depart for a six-week trip to a remote location where diagnosis and treatment would have been impossible. The outcome of the misdiagnosis could have been a lot worse!