VICTORIA, B.C.: Dr. Anna Kindy, Conservative Critic for Health, is again calling on the B.C. government to provide funding for Nathan Hepburn’s out-of-country brain treatment. Adrian Gear, the B.C. Nurse’s Union President, has sent a letter to the Minister of Health advocating for funding for Nathan’s treatment.

Nathan Hepburn, a nine-year-old boy from North Vancouver, has been diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in his brain. He has gone through all treatment options in Canada. Nathan suffers from frequent headaches, L-sided weakness, visual disturbances from the progression of his disease but he is still a very happy, active child.

With the support of his paediatric neurosurgical teams from BC and Toronto, Nathan went to Germany, where a global leader in AVM treatment offered a novel staged treatment with a high success rate. At the family’s own expense, Nathan completed a first stage of this treatment which successfully treated 1/3 of his AVM malformation and decreased some of his symptoms. Costs for further treatment are unaffordable for his family, so they are once again applying for funding for out-of-country medical treatment.

“The treatment for AVM done by Dr. Rene Chapot in Germany is an innovative way of treating this very complex, devastating condition. Because of the rarity and complexity of these cases, there are very few physicians around the world able to perform this treatment safely.”

“I recently spoke to Dr. Chapot. He has treated over 200 patients in 13 years from Europe and around the world with a very high success rate. Patients that are referred from European countries typically get the costs covered by their universal healthcare system.”

“Dr. Chapot’s staged treatment not only has a high success rate but is curative. That means that Nathan can live without pain and have a normal life. Without further treatment, his AVM will continue to grow causing paralysis. He is also at very high risk of having a devastating brain bleed causing severe neurological impairment or death,” said Kindy. “This innovative treatment is evidence-based with a high success rate. It is not experimental. It is supported by Nathan’s pediatric neurosurgical teams in B.C. and Toronto. This is an urgent situation, and the government must approve funding for Nathan’s treatment without further delay. That is the only ethical thing to do here.”

“A B.C. Conservative government will proactively explore ways or learning and sharing new techniques with world-wide partners so that B.C. is on the leading edge of these medical solutions and British Columbians are not forced to go out of province or country to save lives,” said Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Leader of the Conservative Party of B.C. “B.C. healthcare needs to be not only the best at delivery, it needs to be the best in innovation.”

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Media Contact:
Nikki Bal
Conservative.Communications@leg.bc.ca
+1 (672) 922-0948