Madi Vanstone : Mother of Beeton girl says coverage of life-saving drug is coming

A 12 year old girl from Beeton and her family are celebrating a big victory tonight.

The provincial government has decided to pay for some life-saving medication that Madi Vanstone needs.

Cystic fibrosis is a constant struggle for Madi, but today she feels like she won the lottery.

Kalydeco costs $350,000 a year and the Vanstones had been paying for the drug with donations raised in their Beeton, Ont. community.

Speaking with CTV News on Wednesday, Madi Vanstone said news that the drug will now be funded by the province comes as an enormous relief.

“I knew the fundraising couldn’t go on forever and I knew that at one point it would end and I’d have to go off the drug and I would be sick again, so I was afraid of that a lot,” she said. “I never said to myself it’s not going to happen because my mom said to me if you think that then it probably won’t happen but I did worry. They could say no or they could say yes and you just didn’t know for sure.”

Over the last several months, Madi Vanstone met with Matthews and Premier Kathleen Wynne as she pushed the province to fund the drug, but until Tuesday the Grade 7 student had no assurances that the province was any closer to a deal with the supplier of the drug.

“I couldn’t believe it at first and when I realized it was happening I just ran around so excited,” she said.

Agencies/Canadajournal