“I will be forever grateful for those who jumped in that day when Ardell and I desperately needed them.” —Lanny McDonald
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But that invincibility would prove untrue. On February 4, 2024, McDonald experienced a cardiac arrest that would nearly claim his life. He had just returned to Calgary after attending the NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto when he collapsed at the Calgary International Airport. His heart had stopped. “I started to get a rubbery feeling in my legs, and I couldn’t keep up with Ardell, [his wife of 50 years], and a friend. They weren’t walking that fast, but I knew I was in trouble,” McDonald recalls. “The next thing I knew, I could feel myself going down and that was the last thing I remember until I woke up [in hospital].” Thankfully, Rajdeep Cheema, and a pair
of nurses, Sheri Warkentin and Denise Geck, were nearby when McDonald collapsed. They recognized the situation as a medical event and ran to his aid. Shortly after, Jose Cives, a Calgary police officer, joined in to help. Together, they worked tirelessly to reestablish McDonald’s heart rhythm. Ardell remembers the day this way: “Lanny made it three quarters of the way to heaven.” For 11-and-a-half gut-wrenching minutes, the officer performed chest compressions on McDonald, breaking his sternum and multiple ribs in the process, a common side effect of CPR. “I’ve asked Jose many times why he didn’t give up,” McDonald says, fighting back tears.
Breakthroughs [ Fall 2025 ]
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