Heart attack leads to lifelong friendship between ER doctor and patient

Hockey historian Dave Stubbs credits fast-thinking Dr. Tomas Kaufman with saving him from a serious heart attack. The two have become lifelong friends.

It’s been more than 23 years since NHL historian Dave Stubbs had a serious heart attack known as the “widow maker.”

He credits the fast-thinking ER doctor at the Lakeshore General Hospital, Dr. Tomas Kaufman, for saving his life.

“You will hear people say, well, ‘so-and-so’ saved my life and, you know, you can kind of just throw that around cavalierly,” said Stubbs. “But I mean, Tom Kaufman literally saved my life.”

In November 2002, Stubbs, who was then a sports journalist with the Montreal Gazette, had just returned from covering the Montreal Alouettes’ Grey Cup win in Edmonton.

He was also dealing with the recent death of his mother and settling her estate. As he was leaving the bank, Stubbs said he started to feel symptoms of a heart attack.

“I’m sweeping the car off. I don’t feel very good. I feel short of breath, I go home, I’m lying on the floor in my office again, trying to catch my breath and I can’t. I begin to perspire, and my wife and I know immediately that this is probably what’s going on.”

Heart attacks had killed three of his uncles in their 40s, and 45-year-old Stubbs knew he needed to get to the hospital.

At the Lakeshore General Emergency Room, Kaufman assessed that Stubbs’ left anterior descending artery was blocked and immediate action was required.

“When you block an artery, you block the oxygen, to that part of the muscle,” Kaufman said.

Stubbs needed an angioplasty to unblock the artery, but that surgery is not available at the Lakeshore General Hospital. Kaufman decided to use a new medication.

“We did what we had at that time, which was basically giving clot busting agent, like, Drano to open up the blocked artery,” he said.

The drug immediately worked, and within days Stubbs was transferred to another hospital to have an angioplasty and a stent inserted into his heart.

Once he healed, Stubbs went back to the Lakeshore to thank Kaufman. They discovered they shared a common love of the Montreal Canadiens.

“I have a massive appreciation of hockey, and I love discussing hockey with him,” Kaufman said.

Stubbs, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of the game and extensive connections through his job as an NHL.com columnist and historian, was able to introduce Kaufman and his family to several of their favourite players.

Stubbs also marks the anniversary of his heart attack each year by paying tribute online to the doctor who treated him.

Kaufman, who has treated hundreds of thousands of patients in his career, said it’s been humbling.

“Not all your patients can become your friends, but when they do, then, that’s something special,” he said.

Since his heart attack, Stubbs still has to stay on top of his health. He works out regularly and sees a cardiologist every six months, but there is always one doctor at Lakeshore General who holds a special place in his heart.

“To be able to have the bond that I’ve established with Tom and the time that I’ve been able to spend with him and come through this facility and see the care that other people get, it just absolutely swells my heart,” he said.