Jolene Van Alstine: “I Never Wanted to Go Through With MAID, But I Lost Hope”

Case reference: MAID-SK-2025-974N · Regina, Saskatchewan · Approved for MAID; provision paused · Recorded by the register as a MAID victim

Who she is

Jolene Van Alstine is a 45-year-old wife and mother from Regina, Saskatchewan. Her partner is Miles Sundeen. She is Roman Catholic. Photos she shared from before she got sick show a smiling young woman in the summer sun.

For nearly a decade she has lived with normocalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism, a rare and extremely painful parathyroid disorder. She describes pain, nausea, vomiting and overheating “24/7”: sleeping under a cooling blanket with the thermostat at 13 degrees, lying on the bathroom floor with cold water running, and throwing up her medications and then having to retake them.

What happened

Van Alstine has had three surgeries in Saskatchewan, but no surgeon in the province could perform the operation she needed. To be referred out of province she first needed to see a Saskatchewan endocrinologist, and none would take her as a new patient. In August 2023, NDP MLA Vicki Mowat posted her before-and-after photos to Facebook to draw attention to her case.

According to CBN and Faithwire, she went to the provincial legislature in November 2025 to beg for help, and government workers suggested MAID. She was approved, and 7 January 2026 was set as the date she would be eligible to die. After the Toronto Sun reported her story in December 2025, US commentator Glenn Beck offered to fly her and Sundeen to the Norman Parathyroid Center near Tampa, which pledged to cover her treatment. The date passed. Her MAID request is on hold while doctors in Florida, Ontario and Saskatchewan work on her treatment.

Why they were pushed toward MAID

The sources describe a woman pushed toward MAID by a health system that could not treat a condition that can be treated. She could not get the surgery she needed in her province or the specialist referral that would have opened the door elsewhere. Reports also say officials suggested MAID when she asked for help. That account comes from CBN and Faithwire.

Once specialist care became available, MAID was set aside. Doctors now say a regimen of calcium and vitamin D, and possibly another surgery, may help. That turnaround says a great deal about what she really needed.

In their own words

“I never wanted to go through with MAID but I lost hope,” Van Alstine told the Toronto Sun on the day she had been eligible to die. “I’m Roman Catholic. Suicide is a sin, but I just couldn’t stand the pain and nausea and vomiting and overheating 24/7.”

“I’m just praying that I get treatment, whether it be medication or surgery. I just want to feel well again,” she said. Sundeen, the Sun noted, “is not interested in making funeral arrangements.”

What this case shows

Jolene Van Alstine was approved to die of a disease that doctors are now treating. Her life may have been saved by a foreign talk-show host, not by her own province’s health system. Her case shows how, when specialist care is out of reach, MAID can become the quickest thing a patient is offered.

Sources

• Toronto Sun: Beck offers help to Saskatchewan woman approved for MAID
• Toronto Sun: WARMINGTON: Sask. woman’s date with death passes after Glenn Beck’s assist
• CBN News: Canadian Woman Survives Date With Death After Glenn Beck’s Assistance
• Faithwire: UPDATE: Canadian Woman’s Date With Death Passes After Glenn Beck’s Assistance