Craig Cunningham's brother biking from B.C. to Arizona to support heart foundation
Former NHLer Craig Cunningham went into cardiac arrest before a game with the AHL's Tucson Roadrunners in 2016, and, after his heart stopped beating for 83 minutes, was lucky to survive. During recovery, an infection forced him to have his leg amputated.
In a true example of brotherly love, Craig's older brother, Ryan, will bike 1,600 miles (2,575 kilometers) from Ryan's home in Castlegar, British Columbia all the way to Tucson, Arizona beginning Friday to help raise money for the All Heart Foundation - a foundation Craig created alongside Dr. Zain Khalpey, the surgeon who saved his life.
"I can’t even tell you in words what it means to me," Craig said about his brother's upcoming journey, according to ABC's Shane Dale. "It’s a huge thing he’ll do where we’ll not only promote the All Heart Foundation but the cause and the things that we're developing to try to change the game a little bit.
"I think the second part of it is just to show the resiliency of the human body and what it’s capable of when you do things the right way."
Ryan has created a GoFundMe page with a goal of raising $50,000. He's off to a good start, as it has already raised $19,600 - not including the separate $5,000 donations the Arizona Coyotes and Tucson Roadrunners will each make.
"I think he knows how close to my heart, no pun intended, cardiac screening is," Craig said of his brother. "I think he saw what I went through and saw, for lack of a better term, how much of a s--- show it was for me ... I was one of a million, and unfortunately, other people don’t end up with the same outcome as me.
"It means a lot. It’s probably next to Dr. Khalpey saving my life, the second-biggest thing that anybody has done for me in my life."
Cunningham, who is now a scout for Arizona, skated in 63 NHL games with the Coyotes and Boston Bruins.