Itâs a case of too little, too late for a Nova Scotia mother who says a restaurant first refused, then utterly mishandled her request to recharge a necessary medical device for her 11-year-old daughter with cancer.
Shannon Hohmann told CTV Atlantic that she and her daughter Karissa Bezanson went out to grab some breakfast together at a local diner called on March 3. Bezanson brought along her feeding machine, which she has had to rely on to receive vital calories and vitamins since her leukemia diagnosis in November. While they were at the restaurant, Bezanson said the batteries in the device started to die.
âMy machine started beeping and my mom asked to plug it in,â Bezanson recounted to CTV Atlantic on Monday. âShe [the server] said, âNo, you canât. Sorry. The boss doesnât allow stuff like that.ââ
Hohmann said she was shocked to hear the employeeâs answer and asked the woman if she was serious about not letting her daughter recharge the feeding machine.
âI had to ask twice and then I told her I couldnât stay then,â Hohmann said.
Once the pair returned home, Hohmann decided to . She wrote that they had received the âworst service everâ and that she was âmad as hellâ about what happened.
The owner of the establishment, Stephanie Dunham, the next day. Dunham said that she was told by a staff member that Hohmann and her daughter had left âas a result of a misunderstandingâ and that she had called to apologize to the family as soon as she found out.
to Dunhamâs message on Facebook where she took issue with the restaurant ownerâs use of the term âmisunderstanding.â She also asked Dunham to admit they were wrong and to simply apologize.
On Monday, Dunham told CTV Atlantic that she was âheartsickâ about what took place in her restaurant. She admitted that she has barred customers from charging devices such as phones and laptops in the past, but that she would have never turned away a cancer patient.
Dunham said she called Hohmann on the telephone after the incident, but her apology was rebuffed.
âI donât know what else to do but again say how very sorry I am that this happened,â Dunham said. âIt shouldnât have happened.â
With a report from CTV Atlanticâs Bruce Frisko