VASCULAR SURGERY
JOHN IS A SEASONED WORLD TRAVELLER from Brentwood Bay who, with his wife Bonnie of 35 years, has visited dozens of countries spanning the far reaches of the globe — most recently Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. As a retired RCMP officer, John has encountered numerous dangerous, high-stakes situations throughout his life. “I’ve had people come at me with knives, a gun, you name it… but I’ve never been so scared as one night in 2014 when I abruptly woke up in the middle of the night in the most intense pain of my life,” recalls John. “I was sound asleep when I felt like I had been stabbed with a hot poker.” John’s wife knew something was seriously wrong and immediately called 911. They did not know it at the time, but John was suffering a ruptured abdominal aneurysm that required immediate, rapid intervention. “I woke up in intensive care after having life-saving surgery and the first thing I heard was, ‘How’s the luckiest man in Canada this morning?’” John was among the extremely fortunate 10% of people who survive a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. This type of aneurysm is fatal in 90% of cases because there simply isn’t sufficient time to access the emergency care required before internal bleeding becomes deadly. But thankfully for John, he made it to the hospital in time for Dr. Shung Lee, Vascular Surgeon with Island Health, to repair the damage and save his life. This campaign is funding a transcranial Doppler to aid vascular surgeons like Dr. Lee in the detection of cerebral emboli in stroke patients. Vascular Surgery Equipment: $41,800 victoriahf.ca/vascularsurgery