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.”