[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by AustinL_NHL

Woah. Totally off topic, but the title is absolutely insane after the week I just went through, so now I have to share it. Will try to make it long story short:

Just got back home literally 30 minutes ago from the airport. My mother, sister and I had to fly down to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico last Monday on an emergency basis because my dad ended up in the ICU and on life support while vacationing by himself down there.

Doctors were absolutely shocked and amazed at how hard is body was fighting to stay alive despite having next-to-no-blood in it (hemoglobin was at a 3). I guess whereas his blood would be easy to find back here in Canada, 90%+ of Mexicans weren't a match for my dad. However, we were able to find 15-20 blood donors (tourists & locals) in 2 days just from the incredible outreach via Facebook posts.

Even though only 7-8 of them ended up being perfect matches, we got the blood my dad needed, the surgeons were able to perform a successful endoscopy to find & stop the bleeding, and they went from just trying to keep him alive while we got there, to giving us only a 20% hope, to 50/50 after the endoscope, and now my dad's back walking, talking and basically back to normal minus some delirium/confusion and a physically weak body. Got a med-vac back home to Calgary today after we were able to find a hospital room for him, and while he's not fully outta the woods yet, an absolute miracle took place over the last week.

What a gut-wrenching, horribly stressful experience for you and your family. Glad your dad beat incredible odds and is on the mend. Goes to show you just how strong the will to survive can be. Hopefully he will be back up to 100% soon without any lasting effects. This is definitely an awesome day today for you and your family. Cherish it!