Edmonton man's cancer death 11 weeks after diagnosis highlights Alberta medical oncologist shortage

May 2 is a day Cici Nguyen says she'll never forget.

That day less than four months ago is when Edmonton's Steven Wong, her 41-year-old husband, was diagnosed with Stage 4 gastric cancer.

"It's like, if you could explain to somebody that their life has imploded, it was how I felt," Nguyen told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.

It marked the start of an 11-week battle for care.

Wong died in mid-July, leaving Nguyen without her husband, their three young boys without their father and a family without faith in Alberta's health care system.

Not once did Wong or Nguyen see or speak to a medical oncologist — doctors who specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer — before his death.

"I did everything I think humanly possible to help him get the care that he needed," Nguyen said.

"Not only that, he was willing to fight. He was 41, he was a tough human being, and he wasn't ready to give up because he has three boys waiting for him at home, but then being hit by roadblocks was very, very difficult, like falling on deaf ears, in a sense, where we were kept in the dark for a lot of it, for almost all of it."

Nguyen said if she could turn back time, she "wouldn't have stayed here."

"That day he was diagnosed, May 2, I would have hopped on a plane with him and left," she said.

Dr. John Walker, a medical oncologist at Edmonton's Cross Cancer Institute, calls Wong's death "heartbreaking" and the result of "a problem that has been in the making for years."

Walker says with more complex patients and surging case loads, cancer care in Alberta has reached a critical point.

"It really is a crisis," he said. "It's a situation that needs to be addressed and needs to be addressed quickly."

An internal report on cancer care in the province presented to Alberta Health Services (AHS) in May found the number of new cancer referrals grew by 18 per cent between 2018 and 2023. It also reveals the number of patients seen outside the Alberta Health four-week target jumped by nearly 70 per cent over the last five years.

Wait times are also up. Five years ago, patients needing medical oncology care waited an average of 6.3 weeks for their first consult. In the first quarter of this year, the average wait time for it was 10.3 weeks.

"We really are in a deficit right now," Walker said.

In an emailed statement to CTV News Edmonton, Andrea Smith, press secretary for Alberta's health minister, said the provincial government "is committed to providing quality and accessible health care, including cancer prevention and screening, to all Albertans."

"Cancer programs across Canada are all struggling to address increased workload demands and competing to recruit oncology specialists in a highly competitive environment," said the statement.

"We are actively collaborating with AHS to recruit oncology specialists across Alberta."

An AHS spokesperson says they are considering improving access by extending clinic hours and says 17 new doctors were hired in the last year.

The AMA says more than half of those doctors are to replace oncologists who have retired or are moving away.

Words that offer little closure for Nguyen.

"I banked on a system to help him, and they ultimately failed him," she said. "I have to live with that for the rest of my life."