Well-known Barrie businessman, Todd Tuckey, survives brain aneurysm
He's been known as Lucky Tuckey after winning more than half a million dollars in lottery prizes, but after recently surviving a brain aneurysm, Todd Tuckey feels luckier than ever.
The well-known Barrie businessman was getting ready for his step-daughter's 15th birthday party when he says he suddenly felt a pain in his neck.
"I just finished vacuuming the pool, and I was standing there looking, going I better get the lawn cut, and it was just 'Bam!' It was like somebody just hit me in the back of the neck with a baseball bat," he says.
Tuckey went inside to lay down and cool off, only to wake up five minutes later in a pool of sweat. Then he rushed to the bathroom and vomited.
He says he knew something wasn't right and called his wife, who was out running errands.
"Fortunately, she was close to home, and she said, 'I'm on my way. I'll be right there.'"
He was rushed to the emergency room where doctors at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) diagnosed Tuckey as having pinched a nerve. They froze the back of his neck and sent him home with a morphine prescription.
Two days later, he says he didn't feel any better, and that's when a call to his family doctor resulted in a second trip to the Barrie hospital.
This time, the staff were waiting to run tests.
"I don't remember going back," Tuckey says. "I just remember being in RVH and one of the doctors saying, 'You have a brain aneurysm. We've got an ambulance coming to take you to Toronto."
Doctors at Toronto Western expected Tuckey to spend two weeks in the intensive care unit, but Lucky Tuckey recovered quickly, and doctors discharged him just eight days later.
However, his medical team still doesn't know what caused the aneurysm.
"That's the one thing that still scares me," he says. "They don't know the actual cause. They never did find the source of the bleed."
Tuckey is now recovering comfortably at home.
He recently posted to social media how thankful he was to have survived his ordeal and credited those who have had their COVID-19 vaccines with being a part of his survival.
"Had my aneurysm happened a month earlier, there would not have been space for me in the ICU at Toronto Western Hospital, nor would there have been a nurse available 24 hours a day to care for just me," he wrote in part.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.