Elder whose late-stage cancer went undetected has been medevaced to Yellowknife

An elder from Délı̨nę who had a pop can-sized tumour removed from his stomach after paying his own way to Yellowknife to see a doctor has been medevaced back to Yellowknife a week after he arrived home. 

On Feb. 25, Morris Neyelle — an artist, photographer and former band councillor —  ended up arranging his own flight from Délı̨nę to Yellowknife for treatment after weeks of stomach pain. He said health centre staff in Délı̨nę declined to medevac him in time. 

A month after having the tumour removed, Neyelle was back in Délı̨nę last week after he'd opted not to go to Edmonton for radiation.

His daughter Gloria Gaudet told CBC he took a turn for the worse and on Wednesday, after nurses in the community treated him for dehydration, his doctor wanted him back in Yellowknife. 

"They want them to send him out right away because he was going down too fast … and so he agreed to get medevaced to Yellowknife."

Neyelle has used his situation to draw awareness to the lack of health services in smaller N.W.T. communities. Blood work and stool tests done at the health centre in Délı̨nę had come back without detecting his cancer, and there were no specialists there to diagnose his pain.

Gaudet said she also wants to raise awareness about the need for patients to advocate for themselves and family members in the health-care system. 

"This is the part where me and my siblings can spread the word like, try to push yourself to go towards the medical help if you need it, and push it to get help."

Support from community near and far 

Gaudet, who lives in Yellowknife, said the community helped get her home to Délı̨nę the week Neyelle was home. 

"We've been doing a lot of cooking at my parent's house while my dad was here. And the community did fundraising, and stuff for the family to come here, from Yellowknife to Délı̨nę to see my dad," she said. 

Now that he's back in Yellowknife, their time together has been cut short. 

A family friend has set up a GoFundMe page to help the family with expenses. 

Maggie Mills now lives in British Columbia, but she stayed with Neyelle and his wife Bernice four years ago while working on a graduate degree.

"The fact that a round-trip flight from Yellowknife to Délı̨nę [is] you know, almost $2,000. It's just prohibitive," Mills said, "in terms of people accessing what they need ... mental health support ... physical health care."

As of Thursday afternoon, more than $5,000 in donations had been made to the campaign.