Lise Grant

I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to write this.  Life sometimes gets ahead of us and buries emails.

Unfortunately, my husband had a heart attack just before Easter 2016. Luckily it was mild and they were able to put in 2 stents to open up one of the arteries that was 100% blocked. Now his eating habits have drastically changed, he has lost weight and is doing very well.

When he was being discharged from the Heart Institute he was given a package of various information but the one thing I remember vividly is the nurse pulling out this little yellow vial and telling us that this little thing could potentially save someone’s life and it was very important for us to fill out the paperwork and put it in the freezer. As you have probably figured out it was the Vial of Life. I remember the conversation clear as day.

Needless to say I took it home, filled everything out, popped it in the freezer door and stuck the magnet on the outside of the freezer door on the corner just as instructed.

Several months later my husband was feeling ill so he took the day off work. This is extremely unusual for him . He NEVER takes a day off work for feeling ill. He was upstairs in bed when I heard him running across the floor and then heard him falling in the bathroom. He had vomited blood all over the room and was not able to get up because he had lost so much blood. Ambulance was called and the first thing they asked is if he was on any medication. Thankfully the Vial of Life was in the freezer with all his information listed. It was of such great help. There was no way I would have remembered all his meds. All the paperwork was taken with the ambulance techs to the hospital and was referred to multiple times when he was in emergency. When he was transferred to a room that paperwork followed him upstairs and again it was referred to multiple times as they adjusted his medications.

Reason for him vomiting blood was 2 ulcers caused by H pylori. Again…. we were lucky and they repaired them immediately and he was out within a couple of days.

I am very thankful that we had that Vial of Life in the freezer. I would have had to hand them a bag of medication and tell them to go through it. This way they knew he was a heart patient and everything was set out very clearly for whatever doctors, nurses and ambulance technicians that needed the information.

Thank you for such a helpful and yes… I am going to say it…. potentially life saving idea. It was of great comfort for us.