A local Conservative MLA is calling on BC Transplant and the NDP government to immediately intervene in the case of a Kelowna mother who is in desperate need of a liver transplant.
Kristina Loewen, MLA for Kelowna Centre, is demanding accountability within BC Transplant after learning that Lyndsay Richholt is now entering her tenth month on the liver transplant waitlist.
She was told that because her liver disease was caused by an autoimmune disease and not alcohol abuse, she would shoot to the top of the list.
That is not the case.
Richholt was given a six-month prognosis in April 2025 and since July, her health has consistently deteriorated.
Despite issuing a plea for live liver donors this summer, she and her family have been left in limbo.
Photo Credit: KelownaNow
Lyndsay Richholt when she spoke with KelownaNow this summer.
In mid-October, Richholt said she was hospitalized after a severe episode of hepatic encephalopathy, a brain disorder caused when a failing liver can no longer filter toxins from the blood.
“I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know what day or year it was. I couldn’t walk, focus, or connect my thoughts. This is my life with end-stage liver disease,” she said.
In July, Richholt told KelownaNow that the major issue in her case is the use of the MELD (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease) score, which is an international standard that prioritizes liver transplant candidates based on blood test results.
She said the score may not accurately reflect the severity of liver disease in AIH patients and that her score has been too low to trigger urgent intervention.
She said exception points can sometimes be added to a MELD score to increase the chances of a liver transplant, but they are usually only given to people with liver cancer.
“Lyndsay has been a model of patience, advocacy, and optimism,” said Loewen in a statement.
“Yet she has been repeatedly failed by communication breakdowns, administrative errors, and a system that seems to have forgotten the human beings it serves.”
In the same statement, Richholt said two potential live donors completed testing but nothing has advanced.
Loewen said it was no longer just a paperwork problem but “a matter of life and death.
“When a dying patient is forced to advocate for themselves against the very system meant to help them, something is deeply broken,” she said.
“BC Transplant must take responsibility and immediately review both its MELD scoring process and its communication failures.”
The MLA said the provincial government and BC Transplant cannot continue to ignore the growing number of patients being “failed by bureaucracy.”
This echoes Richholt’s calls for systemic changes to the MELD scoring system and reforms to BC’s healthcare system.
“Lyndsay’s courage has inspired people across our province,” Loewen said.
“She deserves compassion, transparency, and decisive action, not the silence and excuses so frequently heard from this BC NDP government.”
A GoFundMe has raised over $19,500 for Lyndsay and her family.
Source: Kelowna Now
