On Feb. 4, Rajdeep Cheema noticed a man, later confirmed to be McDonald, experiencing a medical emergency, Calgary police said in a statement. Cheema performed CPR.
Two off-duty nurses, Sheri Warkentin and Denise Geck, were coming off an incoming flight when they noticed the medical event, police say, and took over performing CPR allowing Cheema to locate a defibrillator.
Calgary police Const. Jose Cives assisted the life-saving efforts. Police say the four people spent approximately 15 minutes alternating between CPR and using the defibrillator before McDonald was stabilized and transported to hospital.
Warkentin and Geck are both nurses in Saskatchewan but didn’t know each other before the incident. Warkentin said they didn’t speak immediately after due to the “chaos,” though the nurses were able to connect several months later through McDonald.
When recalling the incident, Warkentin said she was with her husband when they came around a corner in the airport and “things just looked weird.” They kept walking before noticing a man on the ground who appeared to be receiving CPR.
She remembers handing her bag to her husband and rushing to help. “My brain was going so fast,” she said when recalling the events of the day.
Warkentin didn’t know who the man she helped was until a police officer approached her later in the airport and let her know it was McDonald.
“I would have helped anyone,” she said.
“There were many times when I thought that Lanny wasn’t gonna make it through, but I wasn’t gonna stop until I got some sort of a result,” recalled Cives.
“He is a local hero,” said McDonald about Cives in the same video.
The Flames legend made an effort to reach out to his lifesavers once he was in good health and able to find their contact information. McDonald and Warkentin were able to speak on the phone ahead of the awards ceremony.
“He is an amazing man,” said Warkentin.
“As the recipient of not only their excellent training, but of their selflessness and care, I cannot explain my gratitude for their brave actions.”
He continued, saying he and his wife were “humbled to sit in a room full of heroes, surrounded by first responders and citizens alike who have made a difference in so many lives.”
Warkentin echoed those sentiments about being at the gala, saying “it’s very humbling to be in a room of that many people getting such amazing awards for their bravery and their leadership.”
McDonald said he has four new lifelong friends, referring to Cheema, Warkentin, Geck and Cives, and that he is proud to know them.
The Calgary Flames called Cives the “epitome of a hero,” in a post to X earlier this year.
“I owe my life right there to Jose,” McDonald said in a video of the surprise.