Pearson gold heist suspect arrested after flying into Toronto from India
Another suspect is in custody in connection with the gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport last year, police say.
Canadian doctors say they have cured a patient with a severe and disabling disorder with a parathyroid transplant from a deceased donor.
Dawn Ethier, a mother of four and police officer in Ottawa, is the first in North America and one of perhaps two in the world given new parathyroid glands that have eliminated her debilitating symptoms.
"I was like, 'Oh my goodness, is this really working? Is this really happening?'" Ethier told CTV News.
The new parathyroid glands sit inside her right forearm where they were implanted by surgeons at Toronto General Hospital in May.
"All four of them are right in here," said the 47-year-old, pointing to a barely visible scar on the inside of her arm.
Her case may mark the start of a new treatment for some patients who have hypoparathyroidism disease, often caused by neck surgery for thyroid disease.
"I think it has the potential to treat a lot of patients who are out there with this debilitating problem," said Dr. Karen Devon, an endocrine surgeon with the Sprott Department of Surgery at the University Health Network in Toronto. This was her first transplant ever, performed with a team at the UHN Ajmera Transplant Centre.
Ethier's medical journey began eight years ago when her thyroid was removed after a diagnosis of cancer. Alongside the thyroid gland are four tiny parathyroid glands that can be damaged by surgery.
Up to 30 per cent of patients who undergo thyroid surgery can develop this condition and in about a quarter of those, it can become permanent. Some estimates suggest that over 100,000 people in North America develop parathyroid disorder each year.
Treatment with parathyroid hormone (PTH) medications and other supplements can help normalize the body's levels of calcium, which the parathyroid usually regulates, but there are few other treatment options if standard therapy doesn't work.
Ethier's condition was severe. She had to take 99 pills and supplements a day to counteract the deficiencies. Even then, she was left with multiple complications, heart problems, blood clots in her lungs, seizures, and temporary paralysis in her hands.
"It seemed like my life completely revolved around hospital visits, monitoring my minerals, making sure that I wasn't symptomatic, it became almost an obsession to make sure that I wasn't going to end up in a medical emergency," she told CTV News.
After eight years of suffering, Ethier admits she sometimes felt hopeless.
"There was no doctor that could tell me how to fix this or what form of treatment had worked in my house. There was just nothing. And every time they had tried something, it didn't work," she said.
Her physician in Ottawa approached Dr. Devon, after Ethier herself researched other possible treatments, finding one successful parathyroid transplant from a living donor in Germany in 2016.
Dr. Devon, who had never performed a transplant, says she was intrigued.
"My first reaction was that it sounds pretty cool. But I hadn't really heard that much about it," said Dr. Devon.
Some patients receive their own parathyroid tissue in the forearm right after thyroid removal surgery. But taking the parathyroids from unrelated deceased donors is far more complex and scientifically uncharted territory.
It took almost two years to devise a plan during the pandemic, and to find Ethier a potential donor. Extensive testing showed that less than two per cent of organ donors would be a match for Ethier according to Dr. Kathryn Tinckam, transplant nephrologist at Ajmera Transplant Centre.
In fact, the first experimental parathyroid transplant in 2021 failed. When a second donor was found another transplant was performed in May 2022.
Four parathyroid glands, about the size of a grain of rice, were taken from a deceased donor. They were implanted in Dawn’s right forearm, in a procedure that took only about 30 minutes.
Within 10 days, Ethier says, her blood tests showed her parathyroid was functioning. Over the past six months, her medication and supplements have been cut down from 99 to 15. The majority of those are now immune-suppressing drugs to prevent her body from rejecting tissue just like with any other organ transplant. These medications carry their own risks, including infection and cancer. But balanced against an improved quality of life, Ethier says there is no comparison.
"I'm actually thriving now," said Ethier. She is back exercising and walking the dog with her husband, Neal.
"After eight years of medical emergency after medical emergency… I have not been in hospital except for follow-ups since the surgery," she said.
She wants her story to lift the spirits of others affected by this little-known yet disabling condition.
"Lots of people suffer with this and just think that there's nothing that can help. And now they have you know something to look forward to," said Ethier.
In fact, doctors at the UHN transplant unit are preparing a study of five more patients to see if parathyroid transplants from unrelated donors are an effective and lasting treatment.
"I think it's really allowed us to show that this is something we can do safely. said Dr. Tinckam, who continues to monitor Ethier.
"As far as ... being a surgeon and being able to really do something innovative, there's no doubt that this is the highlight of my career and that I'm just excited to see where it goes," said Dr. Devon.
This story has been corrected to note that Ethier researched a 2016 parathyroid transplant case involving a living donor in Germany.
Another suspect is in custody in connection with the gold heist at Toronto Pearson International Airport last year, police say.
Hailey and Justin Bieber are going to be parents. The couple announced the news on Thursday on Instagram, both sharing a video that showcases Hailey Bieber's growing belly.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A B.C. man has been convicted of assault with a weapon after using a skid-steer Bobcat to chase two homeless people from his lawn, injuring one of them in the process.
A Conservative government led by Pierre Poilievre would not legislate on, nor use the notwithstanding clause, on abortion, his office says, as anti-abortion protesters gather on Parliament Hill.
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Miss Teen USA resigned Wednesday, sending further shock waves through the pageant community just days after Miss USA said she would relinquish her crown.
A grieving mother is speaking out after her 36-year-old son was shot and killed in North Preston, N.S., Wednesday night.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.