It appears it is true. I don't think it inappropriate to post this, as Bob's wife (Diane) is obviously sending out a generic email to anyone who inquires:
"To give you a brief outline of what happened:
Friday morning Bob suffered a heart attack while shovelling.
I was helping him shovel and immediately went to him. When I noticed his eyes rolled back I called 911.
A neighbour saw him fall and called some other neighbours to help.
While I was talking to 911 our neighbours began CPR.
One neighbour said he had no pulse and stopped breathing.
We own a home defibrillator and I brought it to Bob. A neighbour helped hook it up and we had to shock him two times to get his heart started again. The ambulance took 45 minutes to get here but by then Bob was breathing but unconscious. Another neighbour who is a fire fighter had brought over an oxygen tank and he was getting oxygen. On the trip to Princeton hospital in the ambulance Bob became combative and began fighting the ambulance attendants. They had to pull over to restrain him. At Princeton, they had to very heavily sedate him to be able to work on him. He was taken to Penticton hospital once he was stabilized. He is in ICU at Penticton. He is alert and it appears there was no brain damage as a result of the incident. The defibrillator and my neighbours saved him. A jet will be taking him to St. Paul's hospital in Vancouver (hopefully tomorrow) and Tuesday he will have surgery to implant a pace maker and defibrillator. He will stay there for one week while they make sure the implant is working correctly. His recovery will be 6 weeks but he can't drive for 6 months because he was shocked by the defibrillator during the incident. The only obvious effects right now are short term memory loss. He can remember things from before the incident, but can't remember what we tell him five minutes later. The doctor said this was probably because of the heavy sedation they were forced to use on him. I was in Penticton with him but came home today with my daughter. I am closing down our motel for January and getting all our affairs in order before we go to Vancouver to be with him. Please keep him in your prayers.
Regards,
Diane"
It doesn't sound too too bad, fortunately- especially so as Bob was apparently trying to kick some ass as they were dragging him off. ;)
Let's hope Bob has a speedy recovery.
When he comes back we can all razz him for being a stereotype- has a heart attack while shoveling snow. Hang in there, Bob!