SaskatchewanFor the past eight years Jolene Van Alstine has suffered from a rare form of parathyroid disease, normocalcemic primary hyperparathryroidism (nPHPT). It causes extreme bone pain. The disease causes extreme bone pain, nausea and vomitingCBC News · Posted: Nov 26, 2025 3:23 PM EST | Last Updated: 6 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 2 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Jolene Van Alstine, who suffers from a rare form of parathyroid disease, speaks with reporters at the Saskatchewan legislature. (Will Draper/CBC)A Saskatchewan woman says she is considering medical assistance in dying (MAID) because she can’t get the surgery she desperately needs. For the past eight years, Jolene Van Alstine has suffered from a rare form of parathyroid disease, normocalcemic primary hyperparathryroidism (nPHPT).It causes extreme bone pain, nausea and vomiting.“Every day I get up and I’m sick to my stomach and I throw up and I throw up,” Van Alstine said.She visited the provincial legislature on Tuesday to plead for help getting surgery to remove her remaining parathyroid gland.Currently there is no Saskatchewan surgeon able to perform the operation. Van Alstine said she must be referred out of province, but she can’t obtain a referral without first being seen by an endocrinologist — and none of them are accepting new patients.Van Alstine said the pain has become so unbearable that she has applied and been approved for MAID on Jan. 7.NDP MLA Jared Clarke, from left, and Miles Sundeen speak with reporters at the Saskatchewan legislature. (Will Draper/CBC)“My friends have stopped visiting me. I’m isolated. I’ve been alone lying on the couch for eight years, sick and curled up in a ball, pushing for the day to end,” she said.“I go to bed at six at night because I can’t stand to be awake anymore.”Her partner, Miles Sundeen, said it’s been a long journey trying to get help.”It’s a complex case because she has had surgeries already but they haven’t been 100 per cent successful,” said Sundeen, adding that it was his understanding that the health minister is willing to meet with them.”We really need help to find an endocrinologist and a surgeon that will take her on that are very familiar with more complex cases.”Jared Clarke, the Saskatchewan NDP Opposition’s shadow minister for rural and remote health, urged Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill to meet with Van Alstine and commit to get her the surgery she needs.“Nobody should be forced to choose between unbearable suffering and death,” Clarke said. “No family should be put in this position.”
Sask. woman considers assisted dying because she can’t get needed surgery for rare disease
