Odelein survived the unimaginable: overcoming a coma, triple transplant and paralysis

You always thought National Hockey League fan favourite Lyle Odelein was tough? You need to come up with another qualifying word for him. The man survived the unimaginable. 

Earlier this year, Odelein’s life was hanging in the balance as he laid in a hospital bed with serious health issues. The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline had the chance to sit down with the former NHL defenseman and his wife Laurel, who revealed the gruesome details of his life-threatening condition he faced back in April. 

Two weeks after he was admitted to the hospital, Odelein was in a coma, and by the end of the month, he was at death’s door, prompting Laurel to reach out across the hockey world for prayers, even as she struggled to keep Lyle’s dire prognosis private.

“He was on so many machines that I couldn’t even touch his hands,” Laurel Odelein told The Athletic. “He was on every possible form of life support other than his heart, and that was just barely beating.

The former star defender was in the coma for 40 days. While he does not remember what happened, and that’s a good thing, his family and friends, many former NHLers recall seeing him in a terrible state. 

Former teammate with the Montreal Canadiens, Kirk Muller came down to see him and wept by his bed side. 

“I was pretty distraught,” Muller said. “I didn’t know he was in that bad of a state. I was trying to put on a strong face, but I was saying to myself, ‘Oh, boy. This doesn’t look good.’

“I just wasn’t prepared for that, and it hit me so hard. It really, really got to me.”

Odelein believes it started with the blood infection after he was pricked by a cactus. However his doctor believes it might have been a routine teeth-cleaning a week or so before he got sick. 

What Odelein knows is: it just kept getting worse. 

“He also had some underlying liver and kidney disease,” Doctor Ngoc said. “But the heart valve being out tipped everything over. The heart and the liver were going, and as a result the kidney also went. Lyle was really on death’s door.”

His body couldn’t fight much longer, and the plan was struck to do all three transplants — heart valve, then liver, then kidney — hours apart, but as part of one long surgery. Odelein’s chance of survival were more than slim… 

‘The percentage chance given to Laurel Odelein was chilling: “Five percent,” she said before sniffing back a tear. “Five.”

“If this were a normal 65-year-old patient, we would not have done this case. Even a normal human being the same age, 49, we wouldn’t have done it. We knew if anybody was going to be able to survive this operation it would be Lyle, or somebody like him,” added Ngoc. 

The three surgeries lasted nearly 24 hours.

When he woke up 40 days later, finally blinking at his beloved wife, Odelein couldn’t move or speak. 

“Odelein was diagnosed with critical illness polyneuropathy, a nerve disease in response to severe trauma. Typically, patients with severe paralysis as a result of CIP, like Odelein, rarely make a full recovery.”

But Odelein kicks ass: 

He moved to a rehab facility in early June and was cleared to return home in early July. On the day of the interview on Sept. 27, Laurel revealed a major step in his recovery: 

“He forgot his cane when he left the house today,” she said. “So I guess he doesn’t need that anymore.”

The Canadiens reached out to Odelein as the 25th anniversary of the 1993 club will be honored before Montreal’s home opener in Bell Centre, against the team they beat then, the Los Angeles Kings. 

Now Odelein will attend the celebration. 

“It’s amazing how it comes together like this,” Odelein said. “Montreal is so special, and it’s so special to me. The memories in that city, the relationship that team had with the fans …

“I can’t wait to go back there. I feel so incredibly blessed to still be here, much less to be able to celebrate something like this with all those guys. It’s going to be incredibly emotional, I know that. I’m really looking forward to it. I just hope I can hold it together.”

This is just the best story you will read all week! 

Read the full story here: https://theathletic.com/564335...