Bumps and bruises happen all the time in hockey, Jennifer Thorpe was watching her 14-year-old son, Tyler, in a heated game that could have been sent to overtime.
Suddenly, Tyler skated for the bench after making contact with an opposing player after a faceoff. “This was not typical for him to do… so I knew something was wrong” says Thorpe.
Wrist scar (Source/Joshua Chen XFM)
As always, a mothers intuition is never wrong. Tyler had his wrist sliced by the opposing players lifted skate, cutting his artery, tendon, and causing damage to a nerve. Severe bleeding can be fatal within four to five minutes if not controlled.
Dr. James Menlove, an Emergency Medicine Physician from St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital and trainer for the opposing team recognized how severe the situation was and immediately started on controlling bleeding until Tyler could be transported to a hospital.
Dr. Menlove’s efforts highlighted the importance of bleed control by saving Tyler’s life.
London Health Sciences Centre’s Trauma Program offers a training program that teaches the same skills that could be used to save more lives like Tyler’s called “Stop the Bleed”.
The 90-minute course is available to to the public and teaches the basics of controlling life-threatening bleeding by “teaching people how to stop bleeding directly instead of putting a whole bunch of gauze on top of it,” says Dr. Kelly Vogt, LHSC’s Trauma Medical Director.
Stop the Bleed training (Source/LHSC)
This type of training is useful for all sorts of jobs and organizations. Jennifer Thorpe is hoping more hockey teams will have their staff trained on Stop the Bleed to ensure that people’s lives could be saved.
“Elgin Middlesex Canucks, where Ty was playing at the time really jumped on the fact to get the trainer and the coach trained in Stop the Bleed because the situation was scary for everyone. I did contact Alliance and Hockey Canada to maybe make mandatory wrist guards,” says Thorpe.
“We see cases like Tyler’s every year, hockey is a high risk sport from that perspective as people are dealing with not only equipment but skates that are sharp so we do see injuries like this every year,” says Dr. Vogt.
With the training from Stop the Bleed, many more lives like Tyler’s could be saved. Tyler has almost made a full recovery after two surgeries at LHSC’s Children’s Hospital. Tyler currently plays for the London Junior Knights U18 AAA team with dreams to make it to the NHL.
When asking the 16-year-old “which team will take Tyler Thorpe in the 2028 NHL draft?” Tyler expressed his dream is to be drafted by any team but made it clear that “I’m a Leafs fan, so probably the Leafs.”
Tyler skating (Source/LHSC)
