After Mark Hyland had his appendix removed, for days afterward he felt an odd cramp in his stomach. His sutures seemed to be healing fine otherwise, so he returned to the hospital for a follow-up examination, and that’s when he received an incredible surprise. In an amazing act of kindness, his surgeons had left a signed Wayne Gretzky hockey stick inside his body during surgery.
Awesome! Looks like Mark owes his doctors a well-deserved thank-you for sewing a genuine piece of sports history inside his abdomen!
The game-used hockey stick was purchased by Mark’s surgeons when they heard he was a big NHL fan and wanted to give him a special gift while they removed his appendix. During the operation, the doctors wedged the hockey stick through the coils of Mark’s small intestine. They also jammed the accompanying framed certificate of authenticity between Mark’s liver and stomach to prove that the stick truly did belong to the “Great One” himself.
“Thanks to my incredible doctors, whenever I have a sharp ache inside my torso from chronic infections, I can take pride knowing that it’s because I have a genuine Wayne Gretzky hockey stick,” Mark said following his life-changing surgery. “My intestines are coiled around a hockey stick signed by the only player to score over 200 points in one season, and I’m so grateful for the generous surgeons who were able to make that happen.”
Truly beautiful. Plenty of doctors save lives, but these docs went above and beyond by leaving an awesome gift inside their patient autographed by a four-time Stanley Cup winner. We’re so jealous!
