Feature Story
Canadian Hockey Ambassador Life Saved by CPR/AED
[2010.AUG.22]Mark Sadgrove, Founder of the Canadian Moose World Travelling Ice Hockey Club suffered a stage three heart attack after playing a game of rec hockey in July. Mark’s life was saved by fast acting EMS and with the help of CPR and an AED. Mark is on the road to recovery and will be continuing to promote the game of hockey with the Canadian Moose in the near future. CARHA Hockey wishes Mark a quick and full recovery and look forward to him being back on the ice. The Canadian Moose are a travelling hockey club who act as ambassadors and promote hockey through games, clinics, and cultural exchanges.
Sunday was a very typical day at home. After Sunday Supper I was picked up by Ashley and Judith Lye to play in a scheduled hockey game in Barrie, Ontario, at National Training Rinks from 8:00 to 9:00 pm.
After the game, I had a shower and got dressed, then sat in the dressing room with the remaining guys listening to their conversations. It was then that I found it hard to breathe, thinking that perhaps the humidity was affecting me and that I needed to get out of the room and get some fresh air. I left the room and stood next to the arena boards struggling to breathe. An arena employee noticed my discomfort and asked if I was okay. I asked her to call an ambulance because I was having problems breathing. She called right away. I walked to the lobby and sat down because my chest started to feel sharp pains and my arms were feeling numb.
Shortly afterwards, the Fire Department arrived and explained that the Ambulance were at a fire and should arrive within twenty minutes. I was asked: "from one to ten (ten being the highest in pain level), what number are you feeling?” I replied, “Nine”. The fireman gave me an oxygen mask and stood next to me before the ambulance arrived.
When the ambulance arrived, one of the EMS attendants said they would put me onto the gurney. I stood up, and collapsed. At 9:34 p.m., I had no vitals. My heart apparently stopped for approximately two minutes (noted in the Emergency Report Chart) and the EMS personnel had to use CPR and a defibrillator to shock my heart to get it going again. They got a rhythm back and then rushed me to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie.
During these few minutes, I was clinically dead and had a “near death experience” that is so fresh in my mind that I know I will never forget the occurrence. During the time my heart stopped, I remember a bright light surrounded me and I had an overwhelming feeling of peace and total tranquillity. All of my pain was gone until I awoke. It was an incredible sense of well-being and then a reluctance to return to life. The after-effects have taken away the fear of death and given me a new and more appreciative outlook on life.
When I awoke, a doctor explained that I had had a stage three (out of four) heart attack and that I needed to be rushed to Newmarket’s Southlake Hospital for intervention, where they have a great Cardiac Hospital. With police escort, the ambulance travelled down the shoulder of a plugged Hwy 400 in Sunday holiday traffic. I arrived at approximately 12:15 a.m., and was whisked to the cath lab. The angiogram revealed one artery (L.A.D.) blocked out of four, completely occluded with a blood clot. A stent was inserted in the mid section of the L.A.D. and a balloon pump temporarily put in to ease the work of my heart, as a left ventricular aneurysm is still “worrisome”. I made good progress after that and walked out of the hospital the following Thursday.
If the EMS had been five minutes later, it would have been a very different outcome for me. Thanks to their medical intervention and assistance from the Barrie Fire Department, I am alive today. I am on the road to recovery now and I have been told that my heart function has been upgraded to a grade one and a half, and I will be able to play hockey again and exercise back to good health. The doctors are surprised at the speed of my recovery (and so am I). Besides the medical intervention, I know that a world-wide network of prayer for my recovery was underway almost immediately, and I am extremely grateful for the love of my family and friends around the world.
Mark Sadgrove
