Craig Cunningham nearing release from hospital as road to recovery continues
“Bring it on.”
Craig Cunningham met with the media on Wednesday just over a month after he suffered cardiac arrest on the ice before a Nov. 19 Tucson Roadrunners game. His hockey playing career is over, but he will use those three simple words to answer the challenge of a long road ahead toward full recovery.
“Some days are good, some days are bad,” Cunningham said at Banner–University Medical Center Tucson. “It’s more, for me right now, just the mental.”
Cunningham said he doesn’t remember anything from that day. In fact, the last memories he has were from playing the previous weekend in Bakersfield. Since that night the hockey world and Tucson community have reached out with cards, letters, phone calls and texts to send well wishes to the Roadrunners captain.
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“It’s nice to know that people are reaching out and able to help you through tough times,” he said.
The story of how the medical team came together to save Cunningham’s life is detailed in a tremendous read from Jon Gold of the Arizona Daily Star. At one point, it was believed he wasn’t going to make it.
If you read Bob McKenzie’s story on Cunningham from last month, you know just how much Cunningham’s mom, Heather, has been through. She lost her husband and Craig’s father, Alvin, in a car accident in 1996 and was left to raise three boys on her own.
Heather was in Tucson visiting Craig on the night he collapsed and has been by her son’s side ever since.
“My whole life she’s been the backbone of our whole family,” Cunningham said. “Nothing’s changed now.”
The next step for Cunningham is to be released and move on to a rehabilitation center. An infection has delayed that, which means the family could be spending Christmas in the hospital.
What’s one more hurdle for him to overcome?
“Craig will get through this,” Heather told McKenzie. “He’ll find himself another goal and he’ll accomplish it, there’s no doubt in my mind about that.”
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
