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Hockey player returns to play at Burnaby rink 10 months after AED shocked him back to life

Stepping onto the ice at Burnaby’s 8 Rinks is no big deal for legions of recreational hockey players who play there each week. For Ken Carrusca, though, it was a personal victory last month – and part of a kind of ongoing miracle.
AED, 8 Rinks, Gianfranco Gimmaria
The first AEDs installed in Burnaby 8 Rinks were purchased with a grant from the Gianfranco Giammaria Memorial Society.

Stepping onto the ice at Burnaby’s 8 Rinks is no big deal for legions of recreational hockey players who play there each week.

For Ken Carrusca, though, it was a personal victory last month – and part of a kind of ongoing miracle.

Ken Carrusca, AED
Ken Carrusca recovers at Vancouver General Hospital after a quadruple bypass operation in January. - Contributed

Less than a year ago, on Jan. 14, the 50-year-old was brought back from the brink of death through the intervention of teammates, a referee and an AED after his heart stopped during the first period of a Sunday afternoon Adult Safe Hockey League (ASHL) game.

After quadruple bypass surgery and months of recovery, he stepped back onto that same sheet of 8 Rinks ice on Nov. 25 for his first game back with his team, Can’t Skate Backwards.

“I survived to tell the tale,” he said with a laugh.

Even after getting the green light from doctors in October, though, Carrusca said he was still a little nervous before his first game.

“I was still quite anxious going back to h

AED, Ken Carrusca
Can't Skate Backwards teammates Wes Reamsbottom, Ken Carrusca,Tom Levesque and Jason Howell chat at 8 Rinks two months after Carrusca's nearly fatal cardiac arrest in January. - Cornelia Naylor

ockey because obviously the last time I played, I didn’t drive home,” he said.

 

Between shifts, he said he was careful to monitor his heart rate on his Fitbit.

Carrusca said all he wanted to do after past injuries – knee surgery, a broken leg, a torn bicep – was to get back to hockey, but the cardiac arrest has been different.

He’s still not sure whether he’ll keep playing, but he said he needed to prove to himself that he could if he wanted to.

In an emotional Facebook post on the night of his return to hockey, Carrusca gave thanks to all the people who had helped save his life: teammates, an 8 Rinks referee, firefighters, paramedics, staff at Royal Columbian and Vancouver General hospitals, therapists, doctors, friends and family.

He ended the post with a plea.

“If you’ve read this far, make a note to Google St. John Ambulance and sign up for a CPR course,” he wrote. “Someone around you may end up being eternally grateful. I am.”