My baby girl almost died. That’s why national pharmacare will decide my vote – CBC

Canada is the only universal health-care country without universal drug coverage

Apr 11, 2025

I watched the plane disappear into the sky, carrying my 15-month-old daughter to a hospital where her life could hopefully be saved.

Hours earlier, we were in the emergency room in Fredericton, surrounded by sombre nurses. Doctors were attempting to drill into Rosemary’s bone marrow to get fluids into her tiny body. The on-call specialist was hours away. The doctor told us our child was in diabetic ketoacidosis. That meant her pancreas wasn’t producing enough insulin and her body was shutting down. This was 2022, so pandemic protocols were broken to let me into the hospital as this might have been goodbye.

Rosemary was so strong; she held on until she and her mother were airlifted to the hospital in Halifax. I hadn’t slept in three days, but I had to be next to my daughter. I drove five hours alone, trying to outrun an incoming snowstorm, unable to think or speak.

When I finally arrived in Halifax, my partner, Katie, reassured me that Rosemary was stable but the next few days were critical to ensure there was no brain or kidney damage. Our daughter was connected to countless wires and machines. There was still a long road ahead. Rosemary had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/healthcare-insurance-pharmacare-election-1.7505014