“It was just like a scene out of a TV-show where they open the ambulance door, and there 10 people trying to rush you out of it. I was out walking my dog. On my way home, I all of a sudden had this indigestion or something. It was 9 O’clock in the morning, so I didn’t feel like it was indigestion. So, I rushed into the house and sat on the lazy-boy chair. It was a leather chair. It was July, and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and I could hear this dripping water sound on the hardwood floor. I didn’t even realize that it was the sweat coming off of me going on the leather chair and dripping on the floor – it sounded like an open faucet. I was just soaked. And then my chest was really sore. So, I picked up the phone, called my buddy who was at the cottage down the road. As soon as he walked in the door and saw me sweating, he asked me ‘are you having a heart attack?’, I said think so. He called the ambulance. I live in about an hour or an hour and 10 minutes, but they got me to the Heart Institute potentially in less than that. They wheeled me in, made me sign a couple of waivers, cut the clothes off and wheeled me to the operation room. So, from the ambulance to the operating room I’d say 2 or 3 minutes maybe. It was surreal. I can tell you that if you’re going to have a heart attack, the Heart Institute is probably the best place to have it. The Heart Institute, they are on top of their game. I have no clue of what caused the heart attack. I don’t have high cholesterol, and I’m not diabetic. I’m a little over-weight I could lose some, but at that time I was pretty active. I’m a 34-year veteran of the Canadian Air forces. Been all across Canada, Bosnia, Afghanistan Germany, spent 5 years in Germany – been all over the place. Stress could be a part of it, but that’s not really measurable. So, I don’t know – I’m only 54 years old. You know, the only thing that I can do now is just to try to enjoy my life as cliché as it sounds. You gotta live every day as if it’s your last cause that was out of the blue.”
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