A Kitchener resident diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour is stranded in Thailand awaiting the final word from his travel insurance company after his coverage was initially denied because he reported flu-like symptoms, including a mild headache, when he went to the emergency room in Moncton a month ago.
Alex Witmer, 30, was about a month in to a six-week trip in Thailand with his wife, Jennifer Witmer, when he started to experience a severe migraine.
“He got a migraine that didn’t go away,” Jennifer Witmer told CTV News Toronto on Monday. “It just got bad.”
The husband and wife went to the hospital and after Alex underwent some scans, doctors diagnosed him with a cancerous brain tumour. The pain he was experiencing was a result of the pressure building inside his brain. He was told he required brain surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation as soon as possible.
The couple then opened a claim with their travel insurance company, Allianz.
". . . there was no issue we just got the go ahead yesterday,” Jennifer told CTV News Toronto. “They were sending an air ambulance.”
But a few hours later, Allianz called Jennifer back and said the couple’s claim had been cancelled because a month ago, Alex went to the emergency room in Moncton, where the couple has been living for the last five years, for flu-like symptoms — one of which was a mild headache.