{"id":65906,"date":"2022-09-28T09:50:30","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T15:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=65906"},"modified":"2025-12-31T08:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T15:52:09","slug":"a-drink-from-the-championship-cup-hockey-offers-healing-for-heart-disease-survivors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/a-drink-from-the-championship-cup-hockey-offers-healing-for-heart-disease-survivors\/","title":{"rendered":"A drink from the championship cup: Hockey offers healing for heart disease survivors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Heart
Heart transplant patient Nigel Richardson drinks from Avalanche championship trophy as the team\u2019s mascot, Bernie, looks on. Photos: Sonya Doctorian, UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a vigorous day of fresh-powder skiing at Winter Park in March 2021, Nigel Richardson relaxed with a sauna and a shower. After he stepped dripping from the stall, he felt far from at ease. He sweated. His chest was tight. The next day, he sought care, and received the shocking news that his left anterior descending (LAD) artery was nearly completely blocked. An LAD blockage is aptly nicknamed \u201cwidow maker\u201d because the artery supplies a good portion of the blood pumped from the left ventricle of the heart to the rest of the body.<\/p>\n

Richardson was 58. His previous encounters with the health care system had involved little more than dental work.<\/p>\n

Patrick Donnelly was working rigorous manual-labor jobs in Texas oil and gas fields in 2011 when he began experiencing fatigue, shortness of breath and swelling. Providers at a San Antonio hospital diagnosed him with congestive heart failure. He took an ambulance jet back to Colorado to be closer to his family and for additional care. At that time, his ejection fraction \u2013 a key measure of the heart\u2019s pumping power \u2013 was around 12%, dangerously below the normal range of 50% to 75%.<\/p>\n

Donnelly was 23. He was fit, active and appeared otherwise to be in good health.<\/p>\n

\"Patrick
Patrick Donnelly watches former Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote pour water into the trophy. Donnelly received a left ventricular assist device at UCHealth and is waiting for a heart transplant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both Richardson and Donnelly survived their brushes with death and serious disability, with the considerable help of advanced health care and technology at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a>. Richardson lay close to death for days but was ultimately saved by a heart transplant. Donnelly, whose heart failure was caused by cardiomyopathy, a congenital weakening of the muscle, received care from Dr. Eugene Wolfel<\/a>, with the UCHealth Heart Failure Clinic<\/a>, and managed his condition for years with medications. However, his health plunged in 2019. After stints in and out of the hospital in San Antonio, he returned to UCHealth, where a surgical team implanted a left ventricular assist device (LVAD)<\/a> to mechanically boost his halting heart. He is now on a transplant wait list.<\/p>\n

The two men are connected by more than medicine. They are set on life courses driven by a deep spiritual pull. Their travails have instilled in them a deepening insight into what separates living life fully from merely existing.<\/p>\n

Hardware, hockey and healing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On a recent September morning, the two men were at University of Colorado Hospital to share with others their life-defining experiences and bonds. One connection formed long before they met one another. Both are avid hockey fans who began skating on frozen ponds and rinks as youngsters. Clad in Avalanche jerseys, Richardson and Donnelly had barely begun talking about hockey or other crisscrosses in their lives when they were interrupted with the surprise entrance of Colorado Avalanche mascot Bernie the St. Bernard, retired Avalanche star Adam Foote and the bright silver trophy the team earned in June as National Hockey League champions. Richardson and Donnelly playfully drank water, disguised as beer, from the cup with Foote.<\/p>\n

The gleaming hardware arrived with Foote and Bernie courtesy of Nigel\u2019s brother, Martin, president and CEO of Dawg Nation Hockey Foundation<\/a>, a non-profit charity dedicated to the mission of assisting amateur hockey players and their families through tough times caused by injury, illness and other challenges.<\/p>\n

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Adam Foote, former Avalanche defenseman, points out player names on trophy to Richardson and Donnelly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe help our hockey families in their times of need,\u201d said Martin, who has developed strong charitable relationships with former Avalanche players, such as Milan Hejduk and Jan Hejda, as well as the team\u2019s current head coach, Jared Bednar.<\/p>\n

The championship cup surprise underscored the deeper ties that bind the two survivors. It was through Dawg Nation that Nigel Richardson connected with Donnelly after his LVAD surgery and helped him through a dark time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHockey was the conduit,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n