Fallen Detroit Red Wing Defenseman Is Stable
By Dick Haefner & Laura Bonell – WJR News
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
The Detroit Red Wings say they will update the condition of defenseman Jiri Fisher, who collapsed while on the team bench during the first period of a game last night at Joe Louis Arena.
The team said that fisher suffered a seizure. Fisher was revived after his heart stopped. He was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital, where the team says he is in stable condition. Dr. William O’Neill, Head of Cardiology at William Beaumont Hospital, is familiar with fisher's heart condition. O’Neill says Fisher did not suffer a seizure, but cardiac arrest
“He has a condition known as Apical Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy which is kind of a long term but it basically means there’s an abnormal sickness at the tip of his heart in his left ventricle that was originally diagnosed with an electro-cardiogram which is very abnormal, and that lead to extensive evaluation,” Dr. O’Neill said. The heart condition had been detected during team training camp, but the Red Wings determined that Fisher could keep playing. Dr. O’Neill tells Frank Beckmann he thinks that will change.
“It’s fantastic that he’s alive and he had no major neuralgic damage but I would think that his career as a hockey player is over,” Dr. O’Neill said. The Red Wings game with Nashville was stopped, and will be made up. The Wings will update Jiri's condition at a news conference this afternoon.
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