GEROW PROPANE LTD.
DOWNLOAD OUR APP TODAY! Android
NEW
EyEs N Optics
iPhone
Over 60 years experience
2 Truckloads Incredible Deals! Call for Pricing!
WE OFFER ‘IMMEDIATE’
EYE EXAMS ON PREMISES Residential, Commercial & Industrial Heating Specialists Bulk Sales, & Retail SALES - SERvICE - pARtS
Box 1030 BRIGHtoN 15384 CoUNtY RD. 2 GEROW PROPANE
613-475-2414
CALL FOR DETAILS
$10 OFF YOUR NEXT SERVICE Campbellford Chrysler
& GET
www.MOTOSPORTS ofTRENTON.com 613-965-6626
BRIGHTON: 613.475.5777 TRENTON: 613.392.3040
531 Grand Rd. • 705-653-1210
2016 kodiak 700 EPS
CentralHastingsTrentHills NEWS Proudly serving Marmora, Madoc, Tweed, Stirling,
August 25, 2016 | 60 pages
Campbellford, Trent Hills, Havelock, Hastings & Area
www.insidebelleville.com
Denied ministry funding for out-of-country surgery, Trent Hills mayor says he’ll be dead by Christmas
By John Campbell
Trent Hills Mayor Hector Macmillan, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January, credits drinking noni juice with having “cured” three cancerous lymph nodes in his chest as well as shrinking the tumour in the pancreas, leaving it “stabilized,” but surgery is needed soon to remove it because “the clock’s ticking.” Photo by John Campbell
Trent Hills – Mayor Hector Macmillan is dying and he’s angry the provincial government isn’t doing more to keep him alive. Macmillan, 58, survived esophageal cancer five years ago but was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in January. His only chance, he insists, is to undergo surgery at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky which has had success in extending the survival rates of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. But it’s expensive – $250,000 US – and last week Macmillan learned his application to have the cost of the surgery and subsequent care paid for by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) had been denied by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. It cited the “experimental” nature of the treatment he seeks, which makes it ineligible for funding for OHIP-insured out-of-country hospital and medical services. The Association of Municipalities of Ontario’s annual conference in Toronto gave Macmillan the opportunity to confront Minister of Health Dr. Eric Hoskins on Aug. 16 during the “bear pit” session, when ministers answer questions from mayors and reeves from across the province. He told Hoskins he had learned a day earlier that he had “joined the ranks of many Ontarians who are being murdered” by the ministry and Cancer Care Ontario, “who offer no solutions for pancreatic cancer except palliative chemo.” Macmillan said Ontario already has the “NanoKnife machine” that’s used in Kentucky
to destroy cancerous tumours using electrical pulses, but it “collects dust” at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto “while the protocols [for its use] are still being developed.” Meanwhile the process, known as irreversible electroporation, “is being used daily successfully around the world, in over 250 hospitals, 50 of them in the U.S.,” he said. “It’s only considered experimental in Ontario because you don’t want to pay for it, or pay for me and others’ out-of-country surgery in Kentucky,” he told Hoskins. “My doctors have told me I will be dead by ... Christmas without it. Mr. Minister, why are you killing us? And are you really just going to let me die?” A sympathetic Hoskins acknowledged the “challenges” Macmillan is going through personally and in his dealings with the healthcare system but he said he and his government “rely on a body of highly talented physicians, specialists to provide [them] the best possible advice” on what should be funded. “It’s not a political decision,” he said. His government wants to provide “life-saving opportunities” to individuals but “at the same time we want to base our health-care decisions on best practices and science and evidence.” The “experts make that decision on all of our behalf and regrettably it’s often decisions that patients can’t fathom,” he said. Hoskins did commit “to finding out why that determination was made” concerning use of the new technology at Princess Margaret, saying, “there’s nothing more important” to him as a minister and even more as a physician than
finding ways “to improve an outcome for an Ontarian.” He was “deeply troubled by the decision that was made in your case,” he told Macmillan, “and I am sorrowed by the challenge that you face with our health-care system and I apologize for that.” In an interview Aug. 19, Macmillan said he plans to ask for an internal review of the ministry’s decision. But “with time running out” and suspecting the decision isn’t likely to be overturned, he chose to speak to Hoskins directly “not only on my behalf but [for] all Ontarians.” The minister‘s response, however, was “nothing more than lip service,” he said. Now he’ll have to find the money on his own to pay for his treatment, which will be a daunting task. He and his wife “went all in” to purchase a bowling alley three weeks before he was diagnosed, and “$30,000 a year on the mayor‘s wage doesn’t cut it.” He also can’t get a loan, given the state of his health. But Macmillan won’t have to raise the funds alone. Trent Hills Fire Service has launched an online fundraiser at www.gofundme. com/2km49uk and set a goal of $100,000. It’s in recognition of his many years of service as mayor and his work on behalf of the community, which earned him a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal. “I’m speechless. Actually, I’m bawling,” Macmillan said of the fire department’s initiative in an email. Within two days of going live, the account had raised $6,785 from 66 people as of Aug. 21.
Quinte’s largest indoor showroom Professional installation and fabrication of Granite, Quartz, Marble & Tile www.blackbirdstoneandtile.com
Granite • Quartz • Marble • Slate • Porcelain Countertops • Fireplace Mantles & Surrounds Bathroom Vanities • Canyon Stone Veneers Hardwood Flooring • Ceramic & Natural Stone Tiles
613-965-1800
30 CREELMAN AVE., TRENTON Mon - Fri 9am-5pm • Saturday 10am-2pm