Tucson Roadrunners winger Craig Cunningham heart stopped on the Tucson Arena ice shortly before the team's Nov. 19 game against the Manitoba Moose. For weeks, he was said to be critically ill.
Wednesday, the Roadrunners' 26-year-old captain will sit in the front of Kiewit Auditorium at the Arizona Cancer Center and talk about how Tucson doctors saved his life.
Cunningham is "recovering well" after receiving ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) therapy and undergoing a procedure developed Dr. Zain Khalpey, Banner University of Arizona Medical Center officials said Tuesday. Cunningham will be discharged in time for Christmas.
Cunningham suffered what the Roadrunners called a “medical emergency” in the minutes immediately before last month's game. Cunningham collapsed following the singing of the national anthems and moments before the puck was scheduled to drop.
He appeared to convulse after hitting the ice. Medical staffs from both teams rushed to aid him, as did local firefighters who were on the ice as part of a bagpipe and drum corps. A stretcher was summoned. Medics performed chest compressions before moving Cunningham off the ice and into an ambulance.
Cunningham was taken to St. Mary's Hospital, where he remained until his condition stabilized. St. Mary's and Banner-UMC doctors worked together to treat the Roadrunners standout.
