Kelowna mother will have lifesaving surgery

On Monday, Lindsay Richholt received the news that her lifesaving surgery for a liver transplant has been confirmed for December 10 this year.

This process was 10 months in the making for Richholt, while her name was on a waitlist.

Earlier this year, Richholt’s doctors told her that she might only have months to live if there were not be a matching donor for her soon.

Despite her dire prognosis and the short timeline, she was not pushed up the waitlist.

Richholt told 1130 NewsRadio that health authorities kept her where she was on the waitlist because they misjudged her condition.

She says the transplant priority grading system, also known as the MELD score, is arbitrary.

“The doctors there confirmed I am clinically sicker than my MELD score. My MELD score calculates at an 11, but they’ve told me I’m really at a 25,” Richholt said.

She says she was feeling forgotten by the provincial healthcare system and took matters into her own hands when she reached out to her MLA, Kristina Loewen.

In response, her MLA and multiple media outlets pushed her story.

Richholt says that the coverage around her situation has helped her be prioritized on the transplant waitlist.

She says the time the doctors predicted her to live earlier this year is ending around late November. And with the winter months around the corner, she and her family have been additionally careful to keep Richholt alive.

Richholt wants to fight for other patients

“My family and I, as we head into cold and flu season, have been very, very nervous,” she said.

“I have no immune system and a liver that’s not functioning at this point. Something like pneumonia or a bad flu bug could be it for me.”

With the lifesaving surgery scheduled for next month, she is already planning for the time ahead after her recovery.

She plans to advocate for other patients stuck on the waitlist and to get the priority system changed.

Richholt says the last few days have been very emotional with the media coverage and the call on Monday.

“We broke down crying and hugging for a good 10 minutes, and then I immediately got on the phone with my husband, who is at work, and then my mom, who is here to take care of me during the day, came in, and it was a very, very emotional moment.”

With files from Srushti Gangdev.