Posted on 07/22/2009 12:35:56 PM PDT by truthandlife
Tomorrow Shona Holmes will testify before Congress about Obama’s proposed health care plan, but unlike most of the people debating health care on the Hill, Holmes is not a lobbyist, a doctor, a policy wonk or even an American.
Shona Holmes is a Canadian who almost went blind waiting for vital brain surgery in her country’s nationalized health care system, and who owes her sight to the quick care of American doctors.
When Holmes went to a doctor complaining of headaches and fuzzy vision, an MRI revealed a brain tumor. Unfortunately, she was told she would have to wait four to six months to see a specialist.
“I never truly understood that little inner voice--that gut feeling--until that time,” Holmes told me during an interview at THE WEEKLY STANDARD’s offices today. “And I thought, ‘I better figure out what’s going on.’”
So Holmes flew to the Mayo Clinic, where, within in a week, she was seen and diagnosed as having a Rathke’s cleft cyst. The cyst was growing and putting pressure on her optical nerves, slowly blinding her.
However, when she returned to Canada for surgery, Holmes had trouble finding a doctor. And when she did, she only ran into more trouble, thanks to laws and regulations against purchasing private health care.
“The one doctor I did see wouldn’t even open my American medical files and look at them,” she said.
When specialists from the Mayo Clinic tried to talk to the doctor, he wouldn’t even answer the phone.
“I was always told that if you were sick enough, you would be treated,” Holmes said. “And there I was, standing in the doctor’s office, and he wouldn’t take the call.”
So Holmes flew back to the Mayo Clinic, where neurosurgeons removed the cyst. Her vision has been 100 percent restored.
Her tribulations have spurred Holmes to action. In Canada, she has been fighting an ongoing legal battle with the province of Ontario to repeal the ban on purchasing private health care.
Holmes decided to come talk in the U.S. after hearing Canadian politician Jack Layton offer support for Obama’s health care plan (all the while touting the wonders of the Canadian system.)
She calls Obama’s plan a “slippery slope,” but she doesn’t like to think of herself as an activist or advocate.
“All I have is a story and an experience from both sides of the border,” she said.
website? or sight?
Canada has an internet problem?
“Canadian will testify before Congress about how US healthcare system saved her site”
See, the US healthcare system is so good our doctors can even code websites
Will Dear Leader bring up her story during his televised plea this evening? /s
Do you have a link to the site that was saved?
sorry I started the grammar police. The topic is actually very intriguing. If I thought the politicians actually cared about actual people, her testimony make a huge impact. However, I am not so optimistic.
Laugh about the spelling goof, but the point is serious.
The left in Canada will eat her alive when she returns. She should apply for political asylum here.
exactly. I apologized because this is a pretty big deal.
I intended to do the same thing but it did take the discussion off the rails.
They should have sent my aunt from Saskatchewan. She has more horror stories about Canadian healthcare that’s scarier than knowing Obama isn’t really American.
Here’s a lady from Canada who wants to help Americans understand the lunacy of Obamacare, and we have five wisecracks about the misspelling of the word sight as “site” in the early responses to the article.
So I guess that is the direction of the responses now. Nothing about how greatful we are for her efforts to enlighten our government about their pending error by her experience.
OK...I’ll go away now. I’m disgusted.
Ping.
Thanks to Canadian Socialized Medicine I am alive today after a ex Canadian doctor operated on me 15 years ago.
I tried to leave a message for Jim Demint and his mail box is full.
Here are some toll free numbers you can use to try to contact Congress. Some may not be working
866 220-0044
877-851-6437
800-828-0498
877-210-5351
800-862-5530
They’re products of the public school system that went through during the site reading phase (fad).
Please, everyone,
go to this video at PajamasTV to really see what Canadian Free Healthcare is like ......
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