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
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Calgary police shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers dealt with a distraught individual. The incident lasted almost 20 hours.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.