To communities of hockey and buffalo,
I want to share with you a traumatic experience that my fiancée, Caroline and our families have known this offseason.
On vacation in France at the start of the summer, Caroline began to feel sick for a few days, which quickly turned into major heart failure. Fortunately, she received the RCR several times, and up to a few hours at a time to keep her alive, which finally saved her life. Without receiving RCR saving lives, the result would have been unimaginable. It is even difficult to think of the worst case.
She was transferred to a hospital where she stayed on life support for weeks before she was benefiting from a cardiac transplant when she was still in France.
Carolina and I wish to sincerely thank us for the great nurses, doctors and members of the Rehabilitation staff at the Hospital Center of Antibes Juan – Les – Pins, University Hospitals of Marseille, the Sahlgrenska Hospital in Gothenburg and the Hogsbo Rehability Center. Without the incredible commitment, the expertise, the care and the sensitivity of all the people who treated Carolina, we would not be in the position we are today, with Carolina which is recovered well and on the path of a complete recovery.
We also want to exercise our gratitude to the NHLPA and the NHL for the incredible support and the efforts they made for us during this incredibly difficult period. We are very grateful to the commitment of Dr Scott Delaney of the NHLPA, who went beyond to ensure that not only Carolina received the best possible medical treatment, but also comforted our families while ensuring us to understand what was going on.
We are also extremely grateful for the support of Terry and Kim Pegula, as well as the whole Pegula family, Kevyn Adams, Lindy Ruff and the organization of the sabers, which has everything possible to support us during this difficult period and showed how much they really dealt with us.
In addition, we would like to thank Craig Oster and Newport Sports for their continuous advice and support.
While Carolina always works through her rehabilitation to return with me to Buffalo, she has demonstrated a determination, a spirit, a positivity and an incredible resilience which I am impressed. It was undoubtedly the most difficult chapter in our life, but it is something we have learned so much. We will continue to grow from these experiences and we are very grateful for all the love and support that we have received. We are really blessed in many ways and fully realize how lucky we are.
We share all this with you in the hope that we can all appreciate our experiences, the people closest to us and the importance of living fully every day.
We want to highlight the importance of the treatment of RCR, RCR training, organ donation and heart problems that have an impact on so many people and families around the world. We want to recognize the tireless and often thankless efforts of emergency and health care professionals everywhere. We cannot say thank you enough to all organ donors and we are grateful beyond the words for the new life that organ donation provided to Carolina.
We hope that we can all think about the luck we have to have the people and the experiences that we share together every day.
While Carolina continues to recover, I know she will attack rehabilitation with the same combat spirit she always has. With our community in Sweden, the communities of buffaloes and hockey have adopted Carolina and I over the years, and we know that they will continue to do so. Really, we cannot say thank you enough for continuous support and we ask for continuous intimacy while Caroline continues on the path of a complete recovery.
Rasmus Dahlin and Carolina Matovac
