She ran to America's healthcare system to get a transplant, but she had to pay for it after a fundraiser
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) said Alberta resident Sheila Annette Lewis has passed away.
Justice delayed is often justice denied, tweeted the JCCF on Thursday.
The decision to remove Ms. Lewis from the transplant list over her COVID vaccination status may have cost Ms. Lewis her life.
Lewis filed a court application to the Supreme Court of Canada in January, asking it to hear her case against a vaccine mandate for organ transplant patients.
Alberta Health Services (AHS) and six doctors removed her from a high-priority organ transplant wait list because she refused to take COVID-19 vaccines.
She was dying of a terminal illness. She had been challenging the constitutionality of the vaccine mandate for transplant candidates put in place by AHS, an Alberta hospital, and six transplant doctors for more than one year.
The Supreme Court said in June it would not hear Lewis case against the vaccine mandate for organ transplant patients. Ms. Lewis is deeply disappointed the Supreme Court of Canada decided not to hear her case, said JCCF-funded lawyer Allison Pejovic.
She had hoped that justice would prevail in the courts for herself and other unvaccinated transplant candidates across Canada.
Lewis found an American hospital to give her the organ transplant she needed in June, but she had to raise money to pay for it. With the help of a few dedicated friends, Sheila Annette has now found a hospital in the US that does not require the COVID vaccination for its transplant patients, said her family and friends.
The testing alone is estimated to cost about $100,000 CAD, and the surgery, many hundreds of thousands dollars more.
Lewis reached a resolution in her negligence lawsuit against the doctors who denied her an organ transplant because of her vaccine status on July 16. The parties have recently reached a satisfactory settlement in this matter, and all funds raised through your generous donations will be going towards Shelias healthcare needs moving forward, said her family and friends.
Thank you all for your prayers, support, kind and encouraging words, and your very generous donations.