LONDON, ONTARIO--It was just a regular Sunday pickup game of hockey.
Gary Smits, 47, wasn’t even supposed to be playing that December morning. He’d been called in as a sub.
Teammate Dale Blanchard had also been called in at the last minute — a stroke of luck that would prove a lifesaver for Smits, a technology and co-op teacher at Medway high school.
After 50 minutes on the ice, Smits felt a little bit of chest discomfort, maybe a little bit hotter than usual. He chalked it up to hard game-play.
As he skated back onto the ice, though, “the lights went out. The next thing I remember was them loading me into the ambulance.”
Smits had suffered sudden cardiac arrest.
Blanchard, an off-duty Middlesex-London EMS paramedic, grabbed the nearby defibrillator and teammates began performing CPR after calling 911. Their quick actions likely saved Smit’s life.
Smits is still off work, hoping to be medically cleared to go back in March.
SOURCE: London Free Press