Ontario teen says it's 'heartbreaking' to have surgery postponed indefinitely because of Omicron wave
An Ontario family hopes solutions can be found to quickly reschedule surgeries cancelled during the Omicron COVID-19 surge.
Rachel Bugera desperately wants to get back to playing soccer. The 16-year-old from Ajax, Ont. has been sidelined from the pitch — and a crucial surgery.
Bugera needs an operation to replace her ACL and meniscus resulting from an injury in October.
She found out shortly before Christmas that the procedure would be delayed and there is no date in sight.
“It was just heartbreaking,” Bugera told CTV News Toronto Wednesday.
The high level competitive centre-back is in Grade 11. She hopes to get recruited by a varsity team and land a possible university scholarship.
With the post-op recovery expected to take nine months, she worries if she’ll be ready when teams start looking at players in the fall and beyond.
“They could look at me during my outdoor season but I might not be at my best. I might not even be a quality player that they’d want to look at. That would definitely make it harder to be recruited, making harder to see those dreams come true,” Bugera said.
She also contends with pain on a regular basis.
Rachel Bugera desperately wants to get back to playing soccer but can't until she undergoes surgery. (Supplied)
“It just aches sometimes,” Bugera said. “It’s like a throbbing pain, you can’t get rid of no matter what you do.”
Public Health Ontario CEO Matt Anderson said Monday between 8,000 and 10,000 non-urgent surgeries and procedures are expected to be pushed a week to help support hospitals during the Omicron surge.
A spokesperson for Health Minister told CTV News Toronto the directive could bring on up to 1,500 acute and post-acute beds.
Burgera’s mom Shelly wants to see more done to help young people waiting resume their lives.
“It’s probably been as a mom, the hardest thing to watch her go through,” she said.
“There’s got to be a creative solution … Maybe its going to areas not so effected by COVID, looking at hospitals that do have those or times available. I’m willing to travel. I don’t care, I’ll go at 2 in the morning.”
Already Bugera said on and off school and training because of the pandemic has been hard enough. The surgery delay now, even more so, knowing the longer she waits, the bigger impact it could have on her future.
“Just keep trying to my exercises that I have leading up to the surgery so I can be as strong as possible … and just staying as positive and motivated as possible as challenging as it may be.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.