His heart stopped for 17 minutes. CPR saved his life.
A beer league hockey player's cardiac arrest became a lesson in the life-saving power of CPR training and quick action.
Mark Cloutier, 72, collapsed on the ice at the Walter Baker Sports Centre during a Wednesday afternoon game in mid-May. His heart stopped for 17 minutes.
Jonathan Blakey, another player, saw him fall and immediately began CPR — a skill he'd refreshed just a week before. "He had the look of a corpse laying in an open casket," Blakey told the Ottawa Citizen. "I kind of think to myself: 'That's kind of odd … he's a really good player and he just … he wouldn't fall.'"
Cloutier, known for meticulous fitness — he ran almost daily and finished the Boston Marathon at 65, placing in the top 10 per cent of his age group — regained consciousness three days later in hospital with no memory of the event. He credits Blakey and others trained in CPR with saving his life. "The guys who were really trained in CPR saved my life," Cloutier said during recovery. "Without them, I have absolutely no doubt I wouldn't be here."
In Canada, roughly 35,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur annually. Immediate bystander CPR can double or triple survival odds, according to Coast 2 Coast, a Canadian first-aid organization. Every minute without CPR reduces survival rates by seven to 10 per cent.
Blakey and Cloutier are now advocating for more people to take CPR refresher courses. "It can happen to anybody," Blakey said. "This incident is clear proof that you can save somebody's life."
A timely reminder that knowing CPR isn't just theoretical — it's the difference between life and death on any given afternoon.