CTV News Kitchener’s top health stories of 2025

From travelling abroad for treatment to a woman’s fight for cancer care, here are some of the top local health stories of the year.

Ont. man believes he has Lyme disease, Canadian doctors don’t, so he’s going to Mexico for treatment

Jason Hibbs used to be a volunteer firefighter in Drumbo but now he can’t even walk.

“I can’t move my arms. I can pick them up a little bit and touch my face,” Hibbs told CTV News in July. “My legs start shaking, I can’t eat on my own, my parents have to feed me, toileting, all that stuff.”

He first experienced symptoms six-and-a-half years ago and, at first, there were no clear answers.

“It’s just been non-stop MRIs, CT scans, EMG, spinal taps and everything just keeps coming back negative,” Hibbs recalled.

Then a Toronto doctor sent the 42-year-old’s bloodwork to one of his peers in Germany.

“It came back positive for Lyme disease, plus four variants that ticks can carry,” Hibbs told CTV News.

He pursued treatment options, including the use of a hyperbaric chamber and antibiotics, but his doctor got into trouble because it went beyond the country’s standard of care for Lyme disease.

In July, Hibbs decided to travel to Mexico to undergo a treatment plan which is not permitted in Canada.

Hibbs is now back home in Canada and looks forward to sharing an update on his health soon.

Ontarians could get funded access to new rare cancer treatment thanks to Kitchener, Ont. woman’s advocacy

A Kitchener woman’s fight for funding could help other Ontarians with the same rare and deadly form of cancer.

Noor Ayesha died in November 2024 from cholangiocarcinoma, better known as bile duct cancer.

She had hoped to extend her life to spend more time with her newborn daughter. Pemigatinib, the drug that worked for her and was sold under the brand name Pemazyre, cost $15,000 per month and was not covered in Ontario.

Eventually, the drug stopped working for Ayesha and she lost her battle with cancer.

In 2025, the Canadian Drug Agency recommended people “be reimbursed for the treatment of adults with previously treated, unresectable locally advanced or metastatic cholangiocarcinoma,” as long as certain conditions were met.

Ontario also agreed to cover the treatment on a case-by-case basis.

Ayesha’s family and her former oncologist were pleased her efforts paid off.

“Her intention was that if she cannot access this drug while she was alive, she still wants to help other people fight for it so that other people can get access to it,” her brother Mohammed Islam told CTV News in April 2025.

Measles outbreak declared in southwestern Ontario

A year-long measles outbreak was declared officially over in October.

The first measles cases were linked to guests who attended a wedding in New Brunswick and then returned home to southern Ontario.

The communities hardest hit by the virus were part of Grand Erie Public Health, which covers the City of Brantford as well as Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk counties, and Southwestern Public Health, which serves the City of St. Thomas as well as Oxford and Elgin counties.

“We don’t have any specific information mainly because there are groups in that area that do not support vaccination,” Dr. Malcolm Lock, the then-acting medical officer of health for Grand Erie Public Health, said on Jan. 29. “Therefore, it’s very difficult to get an estimate on the number of those people that we have that are unvaccinated.”

Mennonite and Amish communities were disproportionately affected during the outbreak.

In the Region of Waterloo, the outbreak reached its peak at the end of May with more than 100 confirmed and possible cases.

Over the course of the outbreak, Public Health Ontario said 2,375 infections were reported across 26 heath units. One baby also died in southern Ontario after its mother, who had virus, gave birth prematurely.

Canada also lost its official measles elimination status for the first time since 1998.

Denied again: Canada Post employee’s long-term disability claim denied because cancer diagnosis came during strike

Job action at Canada Post couldn’t have come at a worse time for one Kitchener, Ont. woman who had worked at the Crown corporation for 24 years.

Chantelle Lucyshyn was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer in November 2024. One week later, workers went on strike. Then her doctor told her she couldn’t return to her job.

Lucyshyn’s claim for short-term disability was initially denied by her insurance company, who explained: “Canada Post has advised at this time that they will not be paying any disability benefits to employees who were considered disabled… within the strike period.”

Her family and fellow union workers shared her story and, as a result, Lucyshyn learned the decision on her disability claim had been reversed. Not only that, but Canada Post changed the rules across the county.

Lucyshyn luck didn’t hold though, when it came time to apply for long-term disability. At that time, she was in the midst of chemotherapy treatments and Canada Post workers were contemplating returning to the picket line. Lucyshyn said she was, once again, told she wasn’t eligible to claim long-term disability.

Canada Post shared the following explanation: “Prior to Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) taking strike action, Canada Post provided CUPW with the opportunity to cover the cost of employee benefits so they would be maintained once CUPW was in a legal strike position. This is a common practice during a potential labour disruption. CUPW refused to cover the cost of employee benefits.”

They continued: “To qualify for long-term disability under the insurance plan, employees’ disability insurance premiums must be paid. Unfortunately, if the premiums were not being paid on the first day of the employee’s disability, they are considered ineligible for long-term disability under the insurance plan. This is standard practice across the insurance industry,”

CTV News asked a disability lawyer, who was not involved in Lucyshyn’s case, to weigh in.

“I can assure you; I don’t make a habit of saying things in support of insurance companies,” James Fireman said. “But as a fundamental rule, if they’re not getting the premium, then they’re not on the hook for the benefit.”

Cambridge, Ont. family unable to live in mouldy home after renting it for nearly a year

In August 2024, CTV News spoke with a Cambridge woman who had not been able to live in the home she had been renting for six months because of black mould. An environmental assessment was completed, which showed at least five different types of mould in areas like the garage, bathroom, dishwasher and attic.

That posed a problem for Lindsay McCarthy and one of her three daughters, who were both immunocompromised.

“She can’t be in the house for more than a couple of minutes without her tongue starting to swell up in the back of her throat, getting itchy and just feeling unwell,” McCarthy explained.

At first, her landlord wanted to help.

“Once he started to see the costs of relocating us and storing all of our belongings and actually getting us out of the house, so the mould could be remediated – then he backed off and wasn’t helping us at all,” McCarthy said.

Until the situation was reviewed by the Landlord Tenant Board, McCarthy and her kids lived in the guest room of another family’s home.

CTV News checked in with McCarthy in January 2025. At that time, they were preparing for another move and were waiting for their second hearing with the Landlord Tenant Board.

“I’m hoping that we’re able to recover all of the rent that I’ve paid and all of these moving costs as well,” McCarthy said.

The City of Cambridge had also hired a company to address the mould problem.

“In cases where a property owner fails to undertake the required work by the deadline set in an order, the city will hire a contractor to do the necessary work to bring the property into compliance. In this case, the city is currently in the process of ensuring that order is compiled,” a city staff member told CTV News.

“I think they should just literally knock this entire house down to the ground,” McCarthy said. “There’s not a room in here that has not been affected by mold in some way, shape or form.”

- Based on reporting from Spencer Turcotte and Heather Senoran