Guy Lavigne, former CEO of Science North in Sudbury, recently found a new reason to smile.

Lavigne recently moved to Arizona with his wife, Michelle, to pursue a new career as director of a science center in Phoenix.

He is also the recipient of a new heart after a serious health crisis.

His ordeal began when he moved south.

The couple was trying to stay fit as part of their new routine and stay healthy while adjusting to life in their new home.

Lavigne said she felt unwell while attending a spin class and decided she was having a heart attack.

“I was doing really well, but then I started getting really dizzy and realized things were going to get worse quickly, so I quit spin class,” Lavigne told CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca in an online video interview.

“In fact, I was the one who told the staff that I thought he was having a heart attack and told them to call 911 and get Michelle and the others, and the rest is history.”

He was rushed to the hospital, but what was even more puzzling for him was that he had no underlying or chronic health conditions.

“I actually went through a medical exam before I came here, before I accepted this role the previous year in October 2021,” Lavigne said.

“My father died of a heart attack when he was young, so I was always conscious of that. I remember the whole time leading up to the hospital.”

He said he believed it was a series of “brief miracles” that made him suspect he was having a heart attack, and that he feared it might have been too late if he had waited.

Lavigne said she texted a co-worker the next day, thinking she would be able to go back to work right away, but from that point on things got worse.

“I was unconscious for almost three weeks while on the waiting list,” he said.

“I was on life support for probably about eight days, and slowly I started to recover from what happened.”

His heart wasn’t working very well, so he needed mechanical support with a so-called inter-aortic balloon pump, Dr. Frank Downey said in an interview with CTV News.

Downey is the surgeon-in-chief of heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

“It’s a catheter that’s inserted through an artery and through the groin to offload the left ventricle and offload the heart,” Downey said.

“Everyone in cardiology at the time thought that because the artery was opened quickly and he was then taken to intensive care, he would recover.”

However, over the next three days, Lavigne’s heart did not recover or improve at all.

He underwent repeated catheterizations to ensure his arteries remained open, but his heart was still failing, so he was upgraded to another mechanical support device called the Abiomed Impella 5.5. , the doctor said.

“This is the latest and best available device for passing arterial grafts,” Downey said.

Cardiologists and heart surgeons expected his heart to improve over the next few days, but they were unsure whether to undergo an emergency transplant or use a more durable mechanical circulatory support device. I had two questions.

“I was performing the transplant myself on Friday night, and he became unstable in the ICU, so another team, from home, came to put him on ECMO (veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation). ),” Downey said.

“This is a mechanical system that allows blood to circulate outside the body, be oxygenated, filtered to take over the functions of the heart and lungs, and then returned to the body, allowing both the heart and lungs to rest. It’s great support.”

Downey said the decision made him determined to pursue the transplant.

“He was eventually put on the transplant list, but it appears we had to wait about a week before a suitable donor was identified,” the doctor said.

Downey said because Lavigne is on ECMO, these circuits won’t last forever, so it’s a short-term option with Lavigne being her first priority.

“It took about five weeks of rehab and recovery, and some of it was medical. After that, I always tell my patients, ‘At some point you switch to the physical side and work out. Get your strength back,” he said.

Guy Lavigne suffered a heart attack and required a transplant. (Included)Downey said LaVine is an incredible success story.

Lavigne had great support from his family and friends, and everything went well for him.

“It’s very fast. I’ve been doing this work since 1991, and it’s been unusual for everything to go in the right direction,” the doctor said.

Lavigne said she has been given a new lease on life and is grateful for the gift of life she received from her donor and their loved ones.

“The most important things in my life are my family and friends. I’m so lucky to have them and I know Michelle was equally lucky to have 4 people rooting for us. “I was very fortunate to have the support of my sons, my brothers, and friends in the community,” he said.

“I was going through some difficult moments.”

A year and a half later, he said he’s still reminded of how precious life is, how quickly things can change, and doesn’t take anything for granted.

“Organ donation is important in the medical field because it provides the opportunity for the ultimate gift and allows individuals to benefit from it,” Lavigne said.

He said he hopes others will keep organ donation in mind.

Lavigne said he is grateful for the world-class support he has received from Mayo Clinic in Arizona and wants everyone to be able to benefit from that additional level of care.

“And I’m grateful. I’ve been getting a lot of notes and phone calls through me, through Michelle, and through some of my brothers. And I certainly appreciate all the messages of getting well soon.” he said.

Each year, National Organ Tissue and Awareness Donation Week is held the last full week of April.

As of December 2022, more than 3,700 Canadians are on the waiting list to receive a transplant.