Another Canadian doctor died suddenly on Saturday during a cycling event reportedly due to cardiac arrest.
Cardiologist and department head Dr. Carl-Eric Gagné, 56, died during the Défis du Parc at La Mauricie National Park, a three-day 65-mile cycling event in Quebec, Canada.
Reports from the scene indicate that rescuers attempted to use a defibrillator and perform cardiac massage on the biker, but were unsuccessful.
“It was with great sadness that I learned yesterday, of Carl-Eric Gagné, a longtime friend of the Grand Challenge, who participated in 8 editions of the 1000 KM,” said Pierre Lavoie, a close friend of Carl-Eric Gagné.
“56-year-old cardiologist in Trois-Rivières, Carl-Eric was not only an accomplished athlete but also a devoted and involved man in his community that cared about youth. Year after year, with his team Roue Libre, he stood out for his involvement in the sponsorship of schools, raising important funds aimed at growing the movement of healthy living habits in Quebec,” Lavoie said in his post.
“I want, on my personal behalf, and on behalf of the entire Grand Challenge team, to convey my deepest condolences to his wife Chantal and his loved ones.”
“I see a lot of people around me dying of heart disease, and that’s not normal,” Pierre Lavoie stated in an interview with le Quotidien.
“It’s about people who die suddenly from the heart without warning and without having any signs or problems. There’s a reason it’s not normal. What is happening? There are doubts about the kinds of scars that there would be on the right and left ventricles of the heart, so-called fibrosis, which could create cardiac arrhythmias.”
“These people now have reached 60, 70, 75 years old, and there seems to be a phenomenon that we are observing. We just want to investigate to see some hypotheses,” he added.
Tributes have poured in following Carl-Eric Gagné’s death.
“It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of our colleague, Dr Carl-Eric Gagné, on Saturday, September 10. Man with deep values and always dedicated to his patients, Dr. Gagné was part of the CCVM family. His presence and sense of humour will be greatly missed by the entire team. Our thoughts are with his family, wife and children,” Centre Cardiovasculaire de la Mauricie wrote.