A cancer patient who needs treatment but was blocked from leaving the island because of an administrative error has been left “at her wit’s end” trying to regain permission to travel.

“I’m back to square one doing the same things all over again, but there’s still nobody helping me get out there,” said Cherrie Woods, who has stage 2 cervical cancer.

Obtaining her tickets to the Lahey Clinic in Massachusetts was no easy task for Ms Woods, 49, who is unemployed and on financial assistance with her fiance, Kevin DeRoza.

The Lady Cubitt Compassionate Association agreed to help to cover medical expenses for her radiation treatment, but the cash-strapped couple were hard-pressed to cover their other costs.

With a hearing pending in Magistrates’ Court over a separate matter, Ms Woods also had a significant bureaucratic hurdle to overcome before her February 25 travel date: clearance to enter the United States.

Waivers are taking the US Consulate General six months to process and come with expenses of their own: the $160 fee is non-refundable, even if no waiver is granted.

Armed with a referral from the LCCA attesting that her treatment was unavailable in Bermuda, Ms Woods got her waiver — but found herself turned back from her flight by US authorities over a warrant for her arrest.

She was detained by police and taken to the Hamilton Police Station, where it emerged that the warrant had been “issued and never been cleared from the system”, she said.

In a letter this month, Magistrates’ Court stated that the warrant had been issued in August 2015 when Ms Woods failed to appear in court.

“I was getting chemo at the time, so I couldn’t go,” she explained.

However, the court’s letter acknowledged that after Ms Woods appeared before a magistrate on January 11, when a trial date was set, the warrant “should have been discharged”.

The mistake was spotted by police on the day of her travel, but when Ms Woods returned to the airport the next day, her waiver had been struck out because she was now deemed a flight risk due to her warrant and trial.

“I had all my paperwork; I had my referral from the LCCA and Pals to prove I was going for medical treatment, but they told me I couldn’t travel — I had to reapply for another waiver,” she said.

According to the couple, her complaint to the police was referred to the Ministry of National Security. She was then advised to get a fresh referral from the hospital.

“Why would she need a referral when the paperwork was already there?” Mr DeRoza asked, adding that further confusion arose when she ended up being seen by a different doctor at the hospital.

In the meantime, Ms Woods said, she has had to attend the hospital on four occasions for bleeding caused by her medical condition. Stage 2 cancer means the disease has started to spread.

The couple also sought compensation for the money lost for their ticket and waiver, but the court accepts no responsibility for the error.

Mr DeRoza, who suffers from type 1 diabetes, said the couple had been “sent to about 15 different places and we have got nowhere”.

“It’s stressing us out and it’s frustrating,” Mr DeRoza said. “We had everything planned: her appointment, the hotel, a limo to get there.

“Now the people at Lahey can’t figure out what’s taking us so long.”

Cleveland Simmons, an advocate for the family, said he had appealed to the Governor, George Fergusson, but had been told that the Bermuda Government needed to assist with the matter.

“The system is not working; there have been administrative errors on behalf of the courts and the hospital, and we’re looking now for them to correct it,” Mr Simmons told The Royal Gazette.

“She needs to get on a flight. This lady’s life is on the line. She was supposed to get this treatment and here we are all this time later and we’re no closer.

“We’re hoping that by getting this out in the public eye, somebody can give us some idea where we go from here.”