After months of delays and cancellations Erika Crawford was ready to go for surgery.
She has a rare condition, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) which breaks down connective tissue. As a result she deals with crushing pain and ailments that betray her 21 years. She dislocates her wrists, ankles, shoulders, hips and other joints on a daily basis.
A surgery set for Monday morning gave her reason to hope help was on the way.
But as the time of her surgery rolled around the specialist booked for the surgery was not in a Toronto operating room. He was in a jail cell, accused of the murder of his wife.
Dr. Mohammed Shamji, a neurosurgeon was charged Friday, the day after his wife's body was found in a suitcase ditched by the side of a road in Vaughan. Police say she had been beaten and strangled.
Her mother, Michelle Crawford says Dr. Shamji is the only person in Ontario, maybe Canada who can help Erika and other people with EDS.
On Erika's Facebook page friends and family members are offering condolences as if a member of her family had died. Erika expresses sympathy for the couple's children, making no mention of her own health concerns.
"My heart breaks for the little ones," Erika writes. "They will grow up with no parents. I can't believe any of this is real."
But Michelle Crawford admits her daughter is devastated and scared.
"There (are) a lot of emotions going on right now," Crawford tells NEWSTALK 1010's Moore in the Morning.
Crawford says the crime Shamji has been accused of does not seem to fit with the man she had entrusted with her daughter's care.
"He was very well-versed in Erika's disease. He was studying, he was collaborating with the U.S. doctor that Erika's already had two surgeries with. He was going down to actually train under him in the next few weeks to get some more techniques."
Now, Crawford says her family and the families of other EDS patients have no one.
A medical team was expected to provide the Crawford family with some options later on Monday. Crawford believes they could include an American doctor travelling to Canada to perform the surgery or sending Erika to the U.S. for treatment. But time is of the essence.
The Crawford family says it has spent close to half a million dollars getting EDS help for Erika south of the border.
She called on Ontario's Minister of Health to find ways to help EDS patients.
"They deserve to have a quality of life," Crawford said.