TORONTO -- An Ontario woman who is battling cancer says her fiance in the U.K. is still unable to travel to Canada to be with her during her treatments despite her appeals to the government to allow him to enter on compassionate grounds.
Sarah Campbell and Jacob Taylor have been separated since February due to pandemic-related restrictions at the Canadian border, which don鈥檛 allow any non-essential or discretionary travel.
Although immediate family members of Canadian citizens or permanent residents have been permitted to enter under recent exemption rules, Taylor doesn鈥檛 qualify because he鈥檚 Campbell鈥檚 fiance and not her husband yet.
The couple was set to be married in Canada in June, but they postponed their wedding when the pandemic hit and Taylor was stuck in the U.K.
When Campbell decided to travel to the U.K. to be with Taylor instead, her plans were derailed when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in early July.
Since then, the 25-year-old woman has had major surgery on her neck and is preparing to receive a radioactive iodine treatment 鈥� all without the support of her fiance.
鈥淚t鈥檚 heartbreaking and devastating,鈥� she told CTV鈥檚 Your Morning on Friday. 鈥淲hen you have a diagnosis like cancer, the thing you want most in the world is your fiance, the man who was supposed to be my husband, by my side so it's just been so difficult having to go through this without him.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 quite hard to put it into words,鈥� Taylor added during an interview from the U.K. 鈥淭he sort of feelings of helplessness that I am not able to help her, like normally, when couples go through this sort of thing, they can support one another.鈥�
That doesn鈥檛 mean Campbell is giving up on being reunited with Taylor, however.
She has handwritten 70 letters to government officials and joined an advocacy group that is fighting to have committed couples and adult children, who have been left off the exemption list, be allowed into Canada on compassionate grounds.
鈥淲e're just doing the absolute best we can to continue to spread the word to get it out there that there are thousands of people being affected by these border closures and keep the borders closed, but we need to make exemptions,鈥� she said.
In a statement to CTV鈥檚 Your Morning, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair acknowledged that Canadians, such as Campbell, are making sacrifices during the pandemic.
鈥淥ur thoughts are with her during this time. The decision to bring forward significant restrictions for travel at our borders has not been taken lightly, but we know that they are necessary to prevent the introduction and transmission of COVID-19,鈥� the statement read.
