On Oct. 2, Mike Pressacco completed what he thought was just another men’s league hockey game.
The 35-year-old was in the dressing room with his team after the game when something went wrong inside his body.
Pressacco collapsed to the floor. Turns out, his hockey teammates were as quick-thinking off the ice as on. Paramedics were called and while everyone waited for them to arrive, his hockey buddies began CPR to keep his blood moving and his lungs full of air, fighting to keep their teammate alive.
Rushed to Health Sciences North, Pressacco was in pretty rough shape. His heart was so weak, it just wasn’t up to the task.
Luckily for him, HSN is one of only a few places in Ontario that performs extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). It’s a process in which blood is removed from the body through a tube, oxygenated in a machine, then returned to the body through a second tube placed near the heart.
Pressacco spent two weeks in hospital, but is on the road to a full recovery thanks, in large part, to the more than 100 people who played a role in saving his life and keeping him alive.
He returned to the hospital today to thank all those who worked to keep him in the land of the living.
“I just want to thank everyone who played a role in saving me,” Pressacco said in a release. “From my teammates in the dressing room, to the paramedics, to everyone at HSN, I would not be here today if not for their quick thinking, skill and persistance. Thank you.”
Part of the reason Pressacco is alive today, HSN said in a news release, is because some of his teammates knew how to perform CPR.
You can learn how at HeartandStroke.ca, and click on CPR/First Aid.
