When a St. John's man's heart stopped during a hockey game, his friends acted — and saved his life
Emergency lifesaving measures, including a deliberate shock to his heart, brought Colin Sullivan back
Anyone who's played hockey with Colin Sullivan of St. John's knows how sturdy the 42-year-old is on skates, and how difficult it is to knock him off the puck.
That's why his fellow players thought he was joking around late last month when the burly tax lawyer first took a knee, and then collapsed face-first onto the ice at Yetman's Arena.
After all, both teams were short of players during their regular Wednesday night recreational hockey game on Oct. 25, and they were all dog-tired.
But Sullivan was not fooling around. His heart had stopped — full-on cardiac arrest.
A slim chance of survival
It's the type of thing that happens, outside of a hospital, about every 15 minutes in Canada, and the result is death about 90 per cent of the time, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
But Sullivan is enjoying a second chance at life because of some quick-acting hockey players who know how to perform life-saving CPR, and the availability of a portable medical device known as an AED, or automated external defibrillator.
"I was one of the lucky people who managed to have people around who knew how to react when these situations happen," Sullivan said during an interview this week at the same rink where he nearly died.
Sullivan is married and a father to four children between the ages of four and 10. And when he's not busy with his law and tax practice, he's either coaching his children's hockey teams or playing in the 9:30 p.m. Wednesday game at Yetmen's Arena that he's been organizing for years. He also played rugby until a few years ago.
Life was great for Sullivan, and he looked forward to every chance he could get to launch his powerful wrist shot at the net during games.
Signs of trouble
There were signs of trouble, however. Doctors had previously detected some rhythm problems with his heart, and Sullivan was treating it with medication. He also admits to some bad habits with his diet, and there's a history of heart health issues in his family.
So as he skated back to the bench after a hard shift, Sullivan started feeling light-headed, and he went down on one knee. The next thing he remembers is waking up a few minutes later with a bunch of concerned and sweaty faces hovering over him, and defibrillator pads stuck to his bare chest.
One of those faces belonged to Mike Janes, who has skated with Sullivan's group for the past 11 years.
Janes was the first to recognize that Sullivan was in big trouble. He yelled for someone to call 911 and started performing chest compressions on his lifeless friend. And for the first time since it was installed years ago, the AED device was plucked from its cabinet near the main entrance.
A medical doctor who had been on the ice with a previous group also came to Sullivan's aid.
"Once [the AED] was turned on, it was basically telling us what to do," said Janes, "and then it said 'clear for shock' and gave him a shock. Shortly after that, he started to come around again. Thank God that thing was on the wall because it really saved his life."
Taking a break from hockey
For every minute that passes without CPR or defibrillation, the probability of surviving cardiac arrest declines by 10 per cent, according to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Brain injury can also occur within five minutes when oxygen-carrying blood stops flowing, which is usually less than the time it takes for medical responders to arrive.
The foundation estimates that fewer than half of people who go into cardiac arrest outside of hospitals receive CPR from those around them, and about 10 per cent are defibrillated.
Luckily for Colin Sullivan, all the necessary life-saving measures were taken, and now he's able to focus on his health, his family and his career.
Three weeks after his near-death experience, Sullivan is looking at life through a very different lens. He's back at the rink watching his children play and enjoying the small things much more, like tying up his daughter's skates. And while he may take a break from hockey for the rest of the season, he's not giving up on the game.
Raising awareness
As for those who saved his life, Sullivan is grateful they had the proper training and resolve to do what had to be done.
Now he's eager to raise awareness about the importance of CPR training, and would like to see AED devices become just as commonplace as fire extinguishers.
"They're lifesavers," he said.
Many hockey rinks, schools, workplaces and public buildings now have AEDs, but the Heart and Stroke Foundation is lobbying hard to make them — and the CPR training needed to properly operate them — even more widespread.
"Unfortunately, the odds aren't really good if you have a cardiac arrest out of hospital right now, and that's what we're looking to change," said Andrew Lotto, the foundation's manager of business development and engagement.
For those who know what to do, Lotto said, the combination of a phone to call 911, your hands to perform CPR, and an AED, can save a life.
"It can be traumatizing and paralyzing to see somebody suddenly collapse and become unresponsive, but very simple actions can make a major difference in their lives," he said.
As for Mike Janes, he now scans every room he enters to see if there is an AED and is grateful his employer required him to undergo CPR training.
"It's it's a good feeling knowing that you contributed to saving someone's life," he said.
"If it turned out a different way, it would have been very difficult for everybody involved, and thank God that the AED was there and available and someone was able to put it on and use it."
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