François Shalom finished cancer treatment only weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic descended in March 2020.
At the time, Shalom felt like he’d dodged a bullet. Surgeries and medical procedures were postponed in Quebec in the weeks that followed to prepare for a rise in hospitalizations.
But last summer, the 67-year-old from Pierrefonds, Que., learned he had a congenital heart defect. He was told by doctors his main heart valve is leaking and needs to be replaced.
Shalom was scheduled to have surgery at the end of January at Montreal’s Royal Victoria Hospital, but learned this week it had been postponed indefinitely.
“It’s absolutely petrifying,”
