Medal winner avoids surgery but faces bill that could run in excess of $50,000
It’s been a difficult period for Olympic speed skater Denny Morrison.
The man who won Canada’s only long track Olympic medals at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 – scooping both a silver and a bronze – is facing a difficult fight as he recovers from a stroke and waits to discover the size of his health insurance bill.
Speaking to The Canadian Press, he remarked: “We’re still working on insurance for the medical coverage through Speed Skating Canada. I’m not really looking forward to receiving the bill in the mail.”
In an interview with the media following his ordeal, the owner of four Olympic medals in total, including a team pursuit gold back in 2010, outlined how he had flown home to Calgary after spending three nights in hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has been taking three hour naps during the day and sleeping 10-12 hours a night as he recuperates from a stroke.
Describing his experience he outlined how he was travelling with his girlfriend Josie Spence after mountain biking on the Arizona trail when his speech slurred and his face drooped. He commented that he felt like “he had 45 shots of whatever.”
His teammate insisted he go to hospital where his condition rapidly deteriorated initially before improving enough for him to avoid emergency surgery.
Prior to the stroke there were several pre-cursors for Morrison. He had five different episodes of going partially blind in his left eye for periods of around 30 minutes; and he had a near-fatal motorcycle accident in Calgary one year ago in which he sustained a concussion, broken leg, torn anterior cruciate ligament, bruised kidneys, a bruised liver, a small fracture in a bone near his spine and a punctured lung.
The reason for the stroke remains a mystery.
Now he hopes that his luck can hold, especially when a US hospital bill is awaiting that is expected to run in excess of $50,000.
The man who won Canada’s only long track Olympic medals at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 – scooping both a silver and a bronze – is facing a difficult fight as he recovers from a stroke and waits to discover the size of his health insurance bill.
Speaking to The Canadian Press, he remarked: “We’re still working on insurance for the medical coverage through Speed Skating Canada. I’m not really looking forward to receiving the bill in the mail.”
In an interview with the media following his ordeal, the owner of four Olympic medals in total, including a team pursuit gold back in 2010, outlined how he had flown home to Calgary after spending three nights in hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has been taking three hour naps during the day and sleeping 10-12 hours a night as he recuperates from a stroke.
Describing his experience he outlined how he was travelling with his girlfriend Josie Spence after mountain biking on the Arizona trail when his speech slurred and his face drooped. He commented that he felt like “he had 45 shots of whatever.”
His teammate insisted he go to hospital where his condition rapidly deteriorated initially before improving enough for him to avoid emergency surgery.
Prior to the stroke there were several pre-cursors for Morrison. He had five different episodes of going partially blind in his left eye for periods of around 30 minutes; and he had a near-fatal motorcycle accident in Calgary one year ago in which he sustained a concussion, broken leg, torn anterior cruciate ligament, bruised kidneys, a bruised liver, a small fracture in a bone near his spine and a punctured lung.
The reason for the stroke remains a mystery.
Now he hopes that his luck can hold, especially when a US hospital bill is awaiting that is expected to run in excess of $50,000.
