Vincentian teenager denied cancer treatment in UK

Despite being in “desperate need” of emergency surgery and chemotherapy, a 13-year-old Vincentian girl has been denied this life-saving treatment in the United Kingdom (UK), even though her father is a British citizen.

Dedra Crichton was diagnosed with bone cancer last month, following which {{more}}local doctors advised her father Roamel Crichton to take her abroad for treatment.

In an interview with British tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail (June 18, 2015), Crichton said that UK doctors had initially scheduled his daughter to have surgery and commence treatment, but reversed that decision when it was discovered that she wasn’t entitled to National Health Service (NHS) treatment.

Authorities then booked Dedra to return to St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), but had to postpone it because they could not find anyone to travel with her.

In the Daily Mail article, Crichton said: “I’m scared that she won’t make it through the flight. She’s very scared. She is in constant pain and spends the night screaming in agony in the ward.

“I’ve put my life on the line for this country for years and they couldn’t help my daughter, who is fighting for her life.”

Crichton also said that he took emergency leave from the post he had been stationed at once he found out that his daughter, who lives in St Vincent with her grandparents, was gravely ill.

He also said: “She is my dependent and I’m a British citizen. Many people cheat the system to be here, but I have always been completely honest. It feels like the price of my honesty is to face potentially losing my daughter for ever.”

A petition has been started on Change.org, appealing to the UK Home Secretary Theresa May to allow Dedra to stay in the UK so she can receive the treatment she needs to save her life.

The petition can be found here: https://www.change.org/p/rt-hon-david-cameron-mp-stop-the-the-fatal-deportation-of-13-year-old-debra-crichton-and-allow-her-as-the-daughter-of-a-12yr-serving-royal-navy-sailor-to-stay-in-the-uk-to-have-her-life-saving-cancer-treatment