Mike Pressacco Shares His Miracle Off Ice Story

By: Nick Liard

Mike Pressacco should not be alive today.

On October 2nd while playing a pick-up game at the Sudbury Arena, 35-year old Pressacco suffered a heart attack alone in the dressing room.

He left the ice not feeling well and went back to the dressing room which is the last thing he remembers.

His teammates found him and started CPR, called 911 and then he went into the hands of the many staff at Health Sciences North.

Emergency Physician, Chris Bourdon was one of an estimated hundred care providers who played a role in Pressacco’s battle to stay alive.

Bourdon says in the emergency department they did CPR for over an hour.

Doctors say one problem fixed created another, they were not sure even if they got his heart working again, that his brain would recovery.

When they did that, he was bleeding in the lungs.

Mike’s condition was so severe he underwent a rare procedure called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which is performed in only a few centres in Ontario.
ECMO is a process in which blood is removed from the body through a tube, oxygenated by a special ECMO machine, then returned to the body through a second tube placed near the heart.

Staff say this was the worst condition they have ever used this procedure on and they say throughout his care he was seconds away from dying on a number of occasions.

Pressacco called for a press conference on Monday to thank those involved in his care.

He was in hospital for two weeks and is still recovering, but is up, walking and back to work.