Canadian man to come home from Thailand for emergency brain surgery

A Canadian couple travelling in Thailand has won a fight with their travel insurance company to return home for emergency surgery by air ambulance.

Alex and Jennifer Witmer were on a six-week vacation in Thailand when a bad headache over several days took Alex to hospital. He was diagnosed with "a very large malignant brain tumour," his wife Jennifer Witmer said. 

The diagnosis came just last week, said Witmer, but in the last 12 hours her husband's condition has worsened.

"He's in and out. You can see a difference today compared to yesterday," Jennifer Witmer told CBC News from the island of Koh Samui in Thailand. 

"He wants to see his family really badly." 

Doctors have said Alex needs a drain to relieve the pressure in his brain. An air ambulance, which costs $265,000, is needed to get him back home for the procedure, according to Jennifer.

She says the couple had lined up a neurosurgeon in Toronto to perform the procedure.   

The couple has travel insurance but while Allianz Global Assistance had agreed to cover a commercial flight, the company didn't initially approve the air ambulance, said Jennifer.

But on Tuesday morning, Allianz told CBC News it would now cover the cost of bringing Alex back to Canada.

"There is full coverage for Mr. Witmer and his wife's return home, including by air ambulance," said Dan Keon, vice president of market management for Allianz Global Assistance in a written statement to CBC News. 

"We are working with Mr. Witmer's treating physicians in Thailand to bring him and his wife home to Canada as quickly and safely as possible," 

Claim initially rejected

The Witmers began the claim process after the doctor in Thailand discovered the tumour last week.

Alex was put on medication to reduce the pressure on his brain, but he needs brain surgery, chemotherapy and radiation as soon as possible, according to his wife.

The claim was rejected after just a few days, said Jennifer, then put under review.

The insurance company said since Alex had gone to the hospital in Moncton, N.B. the month before, complaining about a headache, it counted as a pre-existing condition.  

But his wife says she took him into the emergency room because the couple thought he had the flu. 

"I drove him there because I thought he was getting dehydrated. He was vomiting at that time. But because he reported headaches, they flagged it as a pre-existing condition," said Witmer.

The couple had been living in New Brunswick for five years. They had recently sold their home and bridal shop business in Moncton. They were in southern Thailand on a six-week vacation before relocating to Ontario.

All the couple's belongings are in Alex Witmer's parents home in Kitchener, while the couple prepared to make the move.

Witmer says right now, she's focused on getting her husband back to Canada as soon as possible.

"We just need to get him home," she said.

"It's frustrating because if it hadn't taken so long to get them to agree to transfer him then we could have gotten home sooner ... and his condition wouldn't be where it is right now and he could have gotten surgery."