A Kelowna mom battling an autoimmune disease says she feels forgotten by the health-care system.
Lindsay Reichelt — who has battled the disease for 18 years — is now entering her tenth month on the liver transplant waitlist.
She says, despite being told she would “skyrocket to the top of the list” due to her condition, priority for her transplant remains low due to a system that miscalculates the severity of her disease.
“I was very ill and in the hospital and was given six months to live, approximately,” Reichelt said. “My doctors urged me to find a live donor, because it was a very real possibility that I was going to die on the waitlist while waiting for a liver.”
Reichelt says she feels like a number on an inaccurate list. While doctors repeatedly confirm her illness is severe, her MELD score — a system used to rank priority of patients — has kept her at the lower end of B.C.’s liver transplant list.
“They tell me they can’t and won’t change my MELD score number,” she said.
“They say I’m not the only one dealing with this issue, that this affects all autoimmune patients on the waitlist.”
She says doctors have repeatedly raised concerns about the MELD score system undervaluing autoimmune patients.
Now, as she enters her tenth month on the liver transplant list, Reichelt is asking for a change to the assessment system — to no avail.
“They tell me this is the way it is, this is the way it’s always been for us.”
She is now calling for clarity from BC Transplant before it is too late. After months of waiting, she now has two potential live donors. However, she hasn’t received any updates or a surgery date.
“So here we are today, still waiting, still no update from anyone, with no answers, and we are going into high cold and flu season,” Reichelt said.
“With no immune system and without a liver that is working properly, getting a bad flu or getting something like pneumonia could be it for me.”