Ontario couple says vacation was ruined after Air Canada lost dialysis machine used by husband

An Ontario man and his wife say their recent cruise in Europe became a nightmare after Air Canada lost his portable dialysis machine.

Tom and Jane Jakobszen were on a flight from Windsor to Copenhagen on June 24 en route to a 10-day cruise to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

After the plane landed in the Danish capital, the couple went to baggage claim and everything seemed normal — until they opened the suitcase that was supposed to be carrying the machine.

“It was empty. I don’t think I can express the words. Shock, anxiety, anxiousness, distress,” said Jakobszen, who needs to be on dialysis nine hours a day due to kidney failure, and also has bone cancer.

He had the machine on loan from a Windsor dialysis clinic, which purchased it from manufacturer Baxter.

The clinic has since replaced his machine, which Jakobszen said was waiting for him when he came home from abroad.

While it may have been better to bring the machine as a carry-on, the couple said it was too big and heavy to be stowed in the cabin, considering it’s “about the size of an old, manual typewriter.”

According to Jakobszen’s wife, the airport employee who checked them in assured them the machine would make its way to Denmark.

“[The employee] put Priority on there and Fragile, and said it goes into a special area of the plane.”

CBC News contacted Air Canada for comment. The company said it was “unable to determine why it [the machine] did not arrive” in Copenhagen.