{"id":17072,"date":"2017-04-19T17:15:21","date_gmt":"2017-04-19T21:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=17072"},"modified":"2017-04-19T17:15:21","modified_gmt":"2017-04-19T21:15:21","slug":"local-resident-supports-southlake-run-after-hospital-saves-his-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/local-resident-supports-southlake-run-after-hospital-saves-his-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Local resident supports Southlake Run after hospital saves his life"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Emily Wood<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the past 25 years, Aurora resident John Hartman has selected one charity per year to throw his support behind. This year, his chosen cause happens to be the one that saved his life just last year.
\nAnd it all happened in 37 minutes.
\nJohn was used to a fast-paced lifestyle, working as many as 60 hours a week and travelling back and forth across North America. In January 2016, he began to experience some alarming symptoms, including shortness of breath and tightness in his chest \u2013 but with no family history of heart disease, John chalked it up to the 125 nights he\u2019d spent in hotels the year before, combined with a less-than-perfect diet and exercise regime.
\nConvinced that it was nothing serious, he paid a visit to his family doctor, expecting a simple solution. His family doctor had different ideas, and recommended that John see a cardiac specialist.
\nFearing a blockage in one of his arteries, he was sent for an angiogram at Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, a hospital home to the third largest Regional Cardiac Care Program in Ontario that serves more than 10,000 patients each year.
\nEven then, John says he was in denial about the worst case scenario.
\nHe was awake during the procedure that revealed a 95 per cent blockage in his LAD artery, and was told then and there that they would need to put a stent in immediately. 37 minutes after lying down on the table, the stent was in place and the dangerous blockage had been cleared.
\n\u201cIt was surreal,\u201d says John. \u201cBut looking back, it was exceptional care. And it was exceptional care in my community. I don\u2019t know if I could use the words \u2018world-renowned\u2019, but it sure felt like that.\u201d
\nMore than anything, his experience had been a wake-up call. After the procedure, John was determined to do anything he could to avoid winding up back in the hospital. He took advantage of the cardiac rehab classes on healthy eating, how to shop for healthier food at the grocery store, and how to manage stress.
\nHe\u2019s since lost almost 20 pounds, and has rediscovered a love of cooking healthy, wholesome meals \u2013 although he does admit he sometimes finds himself cheating just a little.
\n\u201cI\u2019m human. I\u2019m never going to be an Olympic athlete, but I feel better. I keep on telling my kids, Dad plans to live forever. And so far I\u2019m doing just that.\u201d
\nHaving spent his career as a fundraising executive, John is a philanthropist in both his professional and personal lives. To maximize his impact, he selects one charity or cause to support every year, a promise he says is important to his family, friends, and extended network who he invites to join him with their support. After being touched so directly by Southlake\u2019s care through his own experience, as well as his wife, Sarah\u2019s, successful cancer treatment at the Stronach Regional Cancer Centre recently, this year John says it was an easy choice to make.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve always believed in keeping it local when it comes to philanthropy,\u201d he says. \u201cI like that when I\u2019m giving my money, I can physically point to that building and say where it\u2019s going, and that\u2019s where the support is.\u201d
\nAnd he\u2019ll be able to do just that as he participates for the first time in the 2017 Run or Walk for Southlake, presented by Nature\u2019s Emporium, this year celebrating its 15th anniversary. Most notably, the event has moved to Davis Drive for the milestone event, with the 5 km route travelling right past the hospital and under the iconic Southlake bridge.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s general excitement in the community about this event,\u201d he says. \u201cThe anniversary, the route, passing under the bridge \u2013 it\u2019s a big deal.\u201d
\nKnowing how fortunate he was to have access to world-class cardiac care so close to home, John jumped at the opportunity to support the event. For him, it\u2019s the perfect way to give back to the nurses, physicians, and therapists who played a part in his care and recovery.
\n\u201cI\u2019m a big believer in giving back to your community,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd to tell you the truth, it\u2019s easy. Asking for money when you\u2019ve got a great cause shouldn\u2019t be difficult, and I think Southlake is a great cause.\u201d
\nYou can make a donation to John or join him at the Run or Walk for Southlake, presented by Nature\u2019s Emporium on Sunday, April 30. Funds raised through this event support the purchase of new and replacement equipment that is urgently needed across the hospital. Register or donate today at runforsouthlake.ca.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past 25 years, Aurora resident John Hartman has selected one charity per year to throw his support behind. This year, his chosen cause happens to be the one that saved his life just last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/2017-04-20-06.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4rm","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-05 13:01:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}