After surviving cancer, the last thing David Whenham expected was to live with a hole in his face for the next two-and-a-half years.
But that’s what happened to the 64-year-old Alberta man because of the province’s increasing wait times.
According to Global News, Whenham’s struggle with Alberta’s health system started in 2011 when he developed a hole between his right eye and nose after receiving chemotherapy for sinus cancer.
“All I have to do is take this [gauze] out and you can see all the way to the back of my brain… Well, the front of the brain.”
Over the years, Whenham scheduled about five surgeries to have the hole fixed, but they were cancelled due to more urgent cases.
While Whenham has had several other surgeries since his cancer diagnosis, he says he has been waiting to get the hole fixed for years. But it's considered to be reconstructive or plastic surgery by Alberta Health Services, rather than a matter of life and death.
Whenham told the Edmonton Sun he also has several holes in his mouth, which have led to numerous infections since his 2012 jaw reconstruction surgery. He recently found out one of those holes has become cancerous.
Now, doctors say Whenham may have to lose all this teeth a second time, as they try to treat the cancer. A possibility that’s hard for Whenham to accept.
“To lose those teeth again, it’s not something I even considered possible...it was a shock. It seems like we’re back at square one,” he told the Sun.
Whenham initially lost his teeth during his initial battle with sinus cancer.
As he starts treatment again, Whenham says he wonders whether the cancer would have redeveloped has the holes been repaired earlier.
Whenham isn’t alone in his frustration with Alberta’s wait times.
In February, Alberta's Liberal Leader, Raj Sherman, criticized the Conservative government’s inability to cap wait times.
He questioned why wait times for crucial surgeries are increasing, while funding had also increased by $5 billion since 2007, to $17 billion in 2014.
Earlier this year, the Alberta Liberals conducted and released research showing that wait times in six critical categories increased in 2013.
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