A Kelowna mother suffering from a life-threatening autoimmune disease says she’s been left in limbo by the healthcare system, again.
42-year-old Lyndsay Richholt has battled the disease for more than 18 years, and has spent over a year on a waitlist for a liver transplant.
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After she went public with her story last November, Richholt thought there would be a happy ending to this story.
BC Transplant let her know just days later that they had secured a surgery date for her at Vancouver General Hospital on Dec. 10, 2025.
But Richholt says the day before her surgery, they were told over the phone it had to be cancelled — because her living donor had gotten into an accident.
“She lives in Alberta and had slipped on some ice, and lacerated her knee and torn her quadriceps tendon. So she had to go into immediate surgery for that and have some recovery. So it was an unexpected incident, noone’s fault,” Richholt said.
She said BC Transplant told her they were working with several other donors, with whom Richholt had also been in contact, and would get back to her with a new date — but it’s been radio silence since then.
BC Transplant and Vancouver Coastal Health tell us that they maintain regular contact with all patients awaiting transplant, as well as potential living donors — but can’t share information or timeline with patients before that, as the living donor process is driven entirely by the potential donor.
“A surgery date can only be set once a living donor has completed the evaluation process, is medically qualified to donate and consents to donate. Then the transplant program works with the living donor on setting a surgery date. Again, this is driven entirely by the donor and they can change their mind or withdraw at any time,” the organizations said.
“The intended recipient will only be notified once a surgery date has been confirmed.”
Richholt said she’s in contact with multiple donors, however, who say they’re ready and willing for the tests to go ahead — but also haven’t heard anything.
“She said, ‘I can drop everything and come tomorrow. I can come whenever I can get tested and get the surgery done for Lyndsay,” Richholt said of another potential donor.
“And they said, ‘Great. We’ll call you if and when we need you.’ And she hasn’t received anything either.”
Nearly six weeks on, Richholt said her conditions are deteriorating even worse than they were in November.
“Last April, I was given six months to live by the doctors who were seeing and treating me here. I’m very happy I’ve survived and outlasted that prognosis, but things are deteriorating weekly and monthly,” she said.
“Right now I should be in the hospital — I’m just not because it’s such a risk to me, especially at this time of the year with cold and flu season. There are RSV infections and COVID — any one of those infections could kill me at this point.”
Richholt said her doctors have told her she’s at risk of becoming too sick to have the surgery she desperately needs — and Richholt says her life hangs in the balance.
But she feels that BC Transplant is treating her case as a procedural blip — and that staff aren’t responding to her requests with empathy.
“I don’t think they really understand that I wake up every day, not sure if I can make it through that day. The first thing I do in the morning is check my email to see if there’s an email from BC Transplant that’s given me an update,” she told 1130 NewsRadio.
“Do I have a glimmer of hope? Am I going to make it through this? And they don’t understand, truly, what’s it’s like.”
Richholt has appealed to Kelowna Centre MLA Kristina Loewen for help. Loewen told 1130 NewsRadio she’s also tried to get in touch with staff at BC Transplant and hasn’t heard anything back, more than a week on.
Loewen said she understands why Richholt and her loved ones are trying desperately to seek updates from BC Transplant and Vancouver Coastal Health.
“[Richholt] expressed that when they called [BC Transplant], they would say things to her like, ‘Why are you calling us? This is really unusual,” Loewen said.
“It’s like — ‘well, it’s just my life. I’m just 42. I really care about raising my son.’ What are you supposed to say to that?”
Loewen isn’t sure what the holdup is, or what it’s going to take to get Richholt help. She notes that in November, when media outlets picked up Richholt’s story, it was only a few days before she got a scheduled surgery date.
But she said she’s cognizant that for every story that gets public attention and is covered in the media, there are other stories that go untold.
