British Columbia has approved $400,000 in funding toward final surgeries for a nine-year-old boy’s arteriovenous malformation treated in Germany.
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British Columbia has approved $400,000 in funding for the final treatments a nine-year-old boy needs for an arteriovenous malformation (AVM), after earlier requests for financial support were denied, according to his mother.
Nathan Hepburn was diagnosed with a serious AVM, a rare brain condition his mother, Natasha Hepburn, compared to a leaky pipe. She said AVMs—particularly those located in the thalamus—can have an “aggressive trajectory,” forming aneurysms or rupturing without notice if treatment is delayed.
Hepburn said the treatment required for an AVM as serious as Nathan’s is not available in North America, leaving her to seek options to cover what she described as the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed for a series of surgeries in Germany. She said the province denied her requests for funding for months, describing the proposed procedures as “unproved and experimental,” and forcing her to crowdfund to pay for the care.
According to Hepburn, the family has already completed two surgeries, and she said Nathan’s AVM is “halfway towards being repaired.” She said the newly approved $400,000 will cover the final treatments needed to fully cure his condition.
Hepburn said outgoing Health Minister Ravi Kahlon personally reached out after learning of the treatments’ early success through advocacy from MLAs on both sides of the aisle. She said he told her signing off on the funding was the last thing he did before leaving politics, adding, “He said he’s a dad, and he couldn’t overlook that information.”
Hepburn said the approval “took a significant amount of weight off my shoulders,” and she credited community support for helping her family get to the point where the remaining care could be funded. She said she is still crowdfunding to help with flights and accommodations, while the procedures themselves are now covered.
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