A Canadian woman who got approved for a medically assisted death because of a years-long wait to receive surgery for her chronically painful condition may finally get treated. American conservative commentator Glenn Beck has offered to pay for her to have surgery in the United States.
“If there is any surgeon in America who can do this, I’ll pay for this patient to come down here for treatment. THIS is the reality of “compassionate” progressive healthcare,”
after Jolene Van Alstine’s story spread across social media. “Canada must END this insanity and Americans can NEVER let it spread here.”
The Regina woman has endured eight years of abdominal pain, extreme bone pain and fractures caused by normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism. The rare form of parathyroid disease also causes daily nausea and vomiting, overheating, and anxiety and depression caused by social isolation.
“Every day I get up, and I’m sick to my stomach and I throw up, and I throw up. It takes me hours to cool off, I overheat, we have to turn the temperature down to 14 degrees when I get up in the morning in the house,” Van Alstine said on Nov. 25, according to a report by 980 CJME, when she and her husband attended question period at the provincial legislature as guests of the NDP, in an effort to make an appeal to the health minister.
“I’m so sick, I don’t leave the house except to go to medical appointments, blood work or go to the hospital.”
The condition is treatable with surgery to remove Van Alstine’s remaining parathyroid gland, but Saskatchewan doesn’t have a surgeon who can complete the complex surgery. In order for Van Alstine to get surgery in another province, she needs to get a referral from an endocrinologist, but none of them are taking new patients.
“I’m urging Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill to meet with Jolene, to hear her story and commit today to get her the surgery she needs. Nobody should be forced to choose between unbearable suffering and death. No family should be put in this position,” said Jared Clarke, the Saskatchewan NDP’s shadow minister for rural and remote health, in a statement after Van Alstine visited the legislature.
“I feel like I’m at the end of the road so I’m hoping Minister Cockrill can help me,” Van Alstine said in a statement released by the NDP.
Her husband said he doesn’t want her to go through with her request for MAID, which has been scheduled for Jan. 7, but he knows how desperate she feels. He told CBC that her case is complex because she has previously had surgeries, “but they haven’t been 100 per cent successful.”
“I understand how long and how much she’s suffered and it’s horrific, the physical suffering, but it’s also the mental anguish,” said her husband, Miles Sundeen, in a statement released by the NDP. “No hope — no hope for the future, no hope for any relief. I don’t want her to do it, but I understand where she’s at.”
Since the couple appeared in the legislature two weeks ago, little seems to have happened to move her case forward. However, her story has spread across social media, with American conservative commentators, in particular, holding it up as an example of what’s wrong with Canada’s health-care system.
On Tuesday, Beck, who is CEO of Blaze Media,
for Van Alstine’s treatment in the United States and said he had spoken to the couple. On Wednesday, Beck said he had discussed the matter with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Jolene does not have a passport to gain legal entry into the U.S., but my team has been in touch with President Trump’s State Department,” he posted on X. “All I can say for now is they are aware of the urgent life-saving need and we had a very positive call.”
UPDATE 3: Jolene does not have a passport to gain legal entry into the U.S., but my team has been in touch with President Trump’s State Department.
All I can say for now is they are aware of the urgent life-saving need and we had a very positive call. https://t.co/uSOw4423w6— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) December 10, 2025
National Post could not reach Van Alstine by publication deadline.
The health ministry told 980 CJME in a statement that Cockrill met with Van Alstine but wouldn’t say if any progress was made, citing patient confidentiality.
“The Ministry of Health encourages all patients to continue working with their primary care providers to properly assess and determine the best path forward to ensure they receive timely access to high-quality healthcare,” the statement said.
This isn’t the first time Van Alstine has appealed to the government for help. In November 2022 Van Alstine and her husband joined the provincial NDP in asking the government to get wait-times under control for patients to see a specialist or receive surgery.
In August 2023, Vicki Mowat, deputy leader of the Saskachewan NDP,
that showed what Van Alstine looked like before and after her body was ravaged by her disease.
“She and her partner Miles have exhausted all avenues for advocacy,” the post said. “We all know someone who has suffered unnecessarily, and we know that we are stronger when we rise up together. Let’s help build a system where care is available when and where we need it.”
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