Red Wings Legend suffers "serious stroke"

Red Wings legend Gordie Howe suffered a serious stoke Sunday in Texas, and has lost some function on one side of his body and has difficulty speaking. According to his son, Dr. Murray Howe, "Mr. Hockey" is resting at his daughter's Lubbock, TX home. "Basically, sometime in the early morning on Sunday he suffered a pretty bad stroke," said Howe, who heads the department of radiology at Toledo Hospital. "The right side of his body is very, very weak. He's unable to stand without help. He's able to speak, but very, very difficult to speak. "He knows who he is. He knows the people around him. But it is very difficult for him to get up and walk around. So he is pretty much confined to his bed right now. So we're just trying to keep him comfortable, and that's our goal." Howe played 25 seasons (1946-71) with the Red Wings, won four Stanley Cups, six Hart Trophies (MVP) and six Art Ross Trophies (leading scorer). Howe had suffered through a difficult summer, requiring spinal surgery. But Murray Howe said he had returned to fairly fit shape, walking as much as a mile per day, before the stroke. "The downturn this summer was primarily an issue related to his spine, where it just started becoming symptomatic to the point where he couldn't walk," Howe said of his father, who suffered from dementia for a couple years and stopped granting interviews two seasons ago. "We had him undergo a minimally invasive lumbar decompression procedure, and he walked out of there an hour later pain free," Howe said. "Since that time, which is maybe eight weeks or so, ago, maybe 10, he's been doing great. He's been walking at least a mile a day, and he was essentially pain free and doing well, up until this past Sunday. "So we helped him with one problem. But this one is a little bit tougher to fight." Our thoughts and prayer go out to him and we wish him a quick recovery.