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Help Suzanne Aucoin
Nov 12, 2007 - The St. Catharines Standard
A timeline; Suzanne Aucoin chronology
Sept. 1, 1970 Suzanne is born at Women's College Hospital in Toronto. She is the eldest
of Norm and Janet Aucoin's three children. Her younger brothers are Brendan and
Gerald.
1984 After growing up in Mississauga, Burlington and the Toronto suburb of Willowdale,
Suzanne moves to St. Catharines with her family at the age of 14.
1989-92 After graduating from Holy Cross Secondary School, completes Bachelor of
Religious Studies at King's College at the University of Western Ontario.
1992-94 Completes master's of theology at University of St. Michael's College at
University of Toronto.
1996 Completed bachelor of education at University of Toronto.
May 1999 Diagnosed with colorectal cancer at age 28 while living in California and
teaching at an elementary school outside Los Angeles. June 1999 Has surgery to
remove the cancerous tumours in her colon. She returns home to St. Catharines
shortly afterward.
September 1999. Begins working as a chaplain at Denis Morris High School.
November 2003 More than four years after her original diagnosis, doctors discover that
Suzanne's cancer has returned. This time they tell her the prognosis is terminal. The
cancer has spread from her colon to her liver and lungs. She's told she has about 22
months to live.
Summer 2004 Brings together group of friends - known as the L3 committee, for her
motto Live Life Large - to help raise money to pay for cancer treatments not available
in Ontario. The committee has helped raise more than $180,000 toward Suzanne's
medical costs.
October 2005 Suzanne is turned down by OHIP to receive out-of-country coverage to
receive the intravenous cancer drug Erbitux - not available commercially in Ontario -
at a clinic in West Seneca, N.Y., outside of Buffalo.
Oct. 25, 2005 Following her funding rejection by OHIP, Suzanne begins paying for
Erbitux out of her own pocket at the clinic in West Seneca. She spends about $31,065
for the drug between October and December.
Dec. 20, 2005 Suzanne becomes the first person to receive Erbitux at Hamilton's
Juravinski Cancer Centre after working out a special access agreement with Health
Canada to receive the drug. She must still pay for the drug herself, but it's much
cheaper. Instead of the roughly $14,000 a month she was spending in New York, she
pays roughly $6,400 a month in Hamilton.
March 28, 2006 OHIP agrees to begin covering Suzanne's costs for Erbitux - provided
she receives it at Buffalo's Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The monthly cost - about
$25,000 - is about four times higher than she paid to receive the drug in Hamilton
through the federal special access agreement.
June 2006 OHIP turns down a request by Suzanne to be reimbursed for the money -
more than $52,000 - she spent out of pocket for Erbitux in West Seneca and Hamilton.
Sept. 18, 2006 Suzanne has a one-day hearing before Ontario's Health Services Appeal
and Review Board, hoping to reverse OHIP's decision. She argues OHIP erred when it
initially turned her down for out-of-country benefits, effectively forcing her to pay for
the treatment herself.
Nov. 16, 2006 Ontario's Health Services Appeal and Review Board sides with OHIP and
rejects Aucoin's appeal for reimbursement.
Nov. 24, 2006 Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin launches an investigation into Suzanne's
case. The ombudsman wants to find out why the Ministry of Health initially rejected
the St. Catharines woman for out-of-country OHIP coverage in October 2005.
Jan. 30, 2007 Victory for Suzanne. Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin rules in Suzanne's
favour, blasting the provincial health ministry for its "cruel" treatment of her. The
ombudsman recommends that the ministry pay her back approximately $76,000 for her
drug treatment costs, plus legal fees. He also calls for an overhaul of its out-of-country
health benefits program.
Feb. 1, 2007 Deputy Health Minister Ron Sapsford hand-delivers a cheque for
$76,018.23 to Suzanne in the wake of the ombudsman's scathing report.
May 2006 Co-founds Colorectal Cancer Resource Action Network to provide people
across the province the latest information on treatment options.
June 5, 2007 Suzanne again turns to the U.S. for medical treatment not available in
Ontario. She pays approximately $50,000 for a specialized form of radiation at a North
Carolina cancer clinic that specifically targets her liver tumour. The treatment
ultimately doesn't help.
Aug. 9, 2007 Suzanne's father Norm - one of her biggest supporters - dies unexpectedly
of a heart attack.
Oct. 29, 2007 Suzanne moves into Hospice Niagara's Stabler Centre, a residential
palliative care centre. Her doctors have told her chemotherapy treatment is no longer
doing anything for her and recommend she stop taking it.
Nov. 11, 2007 Suzanne dies at approximately 3 a.m. Remembering Suzanne
A timeline; Suzanne Aucoin chronology
Sept. 1, 1970 Suzanne is born at Women's College Hospital in Toronto. She is the eldest
of Norm and Janet Aucoin's three children. Her younger brothers are Brendan and
Gerald.
1984 After growing up in Mississauga, Burlington and the Toronto suburb of Willowdale,
Suzanne moves to St. Catharines with her family at the age of 14.
1989-92 After graduating from Holy Cross Secondary School, completes Bachelor of
Religious Studies at King's College at the University of Western Ontario.
1992-94 Completes master's of theology at University of St. Michael's College at
University of Toronto.
1996 Completed bachelor of education at University of Toronto.
May 1999 Diagnosed with colorectal cancer at age 28 while living in California and
teaching at an elementary school outside Los Angeles. June 1999 Has surgery to
remove the cancerous tumours in her colon. She returns home to St. Catharines
shortly afterward.
September 1999. Begins working as a chaplain at Denis Morris High School.
November 2003 More than four years after her original diagnosis, doctors discover that
Suzanne's cancer has returned. This time they tell her the prognosis is terminal. The
cancer has spread from her colon to her liver and lungs. She's told she has about 22
months to live.
Summer 2004 Brings together group of friends - known as the L3 committee, for her
motto Live Life Large - to help raise money to pay for cancer treatments not available
in Ontario. The committee has helped raise more than $180,000 toward Suzanne's
medical costs.
October 2005 Suzanne is turned down by OHIP to receive out-of-country coverage to
receive the intravenous cancer drug Erbitux - not available commercially in Ontario -
at a clinic in West Seneca, N.Y., outside of Buffalo.
Oct. 25, 2005 Following her funding rejection by OHIP, Suzanne begins paying for
Erbitux out of her own pocket at the clinic in West Seneca. She spends about $31,065
for the drug between October and December.
Dec. 20, 2005 Suzanne becomes the first person to receive Erbitux at Hamilton's
Juravinski Cancer Centre after working out a special access agreement with Health
Canada to receive the drug. She must still pay for the drug herself, but it's much
cheaper. Instead of the roughly $14,000 a month she was spending in New York, she
pays roughly $6,400 a month in Hamilton.
March 28, 2006 OHIP agrees to begin covering Suzanne's costs for Erbitux - provided
she receives it at Buffalo's Roswell Park Cancer Institute. The monthly cost - about
$25,000 - is about four times higher than she paid to receive the drug in Hamilton
through the federal special access agreement.
June 2006 OHIP turns down a request by Suzanne to be reimbursed for the money -
more than $52,000 - she spent out of pocket for Erbitux in West Seneca and Hamilton.
Sept. 18, 2006 Suzanne has a one-day hearing before Ontario's Health Services Appeal
and Review Board, hoping to reverse OHIP's decision. She argues OHIP erred when it
initially turned her down for out-of-country benefits, effectively forcing her to pay for
the treatment herself.
Nov. 16, 2006 Ontario's Health Services Appeal and Review Board sides with OHIP and
rejects Aucoin's appeal for reimbursement.
Nov. 24, 2006 Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin launches an investigation into Suzanne's
case. The ombudsman wants to find out why the Ministry of Health initially rejected
the St. Catharines woman for out-of-country OHIP coverage in October 2005.
Jan. 30, 2007 Victory for Suzanne. Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin rules in Suzanne's
favour, blasting the provincial health ministry for its "cruel" treatment of her. The
ombudsman recommends that the ministry pay her back approximately $76,000 for her
drug treatment costs, plus legal fees. He also calls for an overhaul of its out-of-country
health benefits program.
Feb. 1, 2007 Deputy Health Minister Ron Sapsford hand-delivers a cheque for
$76,018.23 to Suzanne in the wake of the ombudsman's scathing report.
May 2006 Co-founds Colorectal Cancer Resource Action Network to provide people
across the province the latest information on treatment options.
June 5, 2007 Suzanne again turns to the U.S. for medical treatment not available in
Ontario. She pays approximately $50,000 for a specialized form of radiation at a North
Carolina cancer clinic that specifically targets her liver tumour. The treatment
ultimately doesn't help.
Aug. 9, 2007 Suzanne's father Norm - one of her biggest supporters - dies unexpectedly
of a heart attack.
Oct. 29, 2007 Suzanne moves into Hospice Niagara's Stabler Centre, a residential
palliative care centre. Her doctors have told her chemotherapy treatment is no longer
doing anything for her and recommend she stop taking it.
Nov. 11, 2007 Suzanne dies at approximately 3 a.m. Remembering Suzanne