The tragic death of a 15-year-old Keswick boy has left his family and local hockey community questioning the care he received at Southlake Health.
Nolan Ion, an Upper York Admirals U16 AA player, had a cardiac arrest while in gym class at Keswick High School March 17, according to a related GoFundMe. After being rushed to Sick Kids Hospital and having emergency surgery, Nolan passed away on March 18.
However, the family believes this may have been preventable. Father James Ion said his son had been battling a lung problem for several months. Suffering severe pain, he said his son was taken to Southlake Health on Saturday, March 15. But doctors cleared him after an X-ray despite ongoing concern from the family, Ion said.
“I’ve lost all faith in the Newmarket hospital … The only way he was going to be saved was Saturday night,” Ion said.
“We want to try and prevent this from happening again,” Nolan’s head coach, Leo Baker, said while speaking alongside James Ion via speaker phone. “Maybe doctors in our health-care system maybe need to take a little more precautions when it comes to children.”
The family said Nolan first saw complications around November when he was having trouble breathing while playing hockey. After taking him to hospital, they were told Nolan had "walking pneumonia" and a punctured lung.
Nolan didn't play for a while, Baker recounted, but he recovered and got clearance from doctors in the new year. However, in time, Nolan would again have some struggles breathing, though only when doing high-exertion play in hockey.
“Every game, he still didn’t have the energy. He didn’t have the wind capacity,” Baker said. “You’d only see it on the ice.”
The family took him to a family doctor, who did a chest X-ray, with plans to refer him to a pediatrician, Baker said. But when Nolan experienced severe pain on Saturday, they rushed him to Southlake.
James Ion said after an X-ray, doctors expressed that everything seemed fine, and that his lungs had healed from the previous puncturing.
But Baker said, “They overlooked every little problem” the family was asking about.
Ion said Nolan’s mother told the doctors about the blood clots being an issue. He added he himself had experienced severe blood clotting in his leg at age 18, but doctors at that time were surprised about that when he was a youth.
“They don’t take kids injuries seriously,” he said. “They never would have suspected a blood clot in an 18-year-old. You gotta run some tests because it can happen.”
When a comment was requested, Southlake Health said in a statement, "The loss of any young life is a tragedy and our hearts go out to Nolan’s parents and the entire Ion family. While we cannot comment on specifics due to privacy concerns, patient care remains our top priority at Southlake."
After more pain the next few days, Ion recounted his son being rushed to the hospital by ambulance on March 17. He said paramedics did everything they could, and his son went through cardiac arrest three times from Keswick to Newmarket.
They were able to stabilize him, and then rush him to Sick Kids in Toronto, Ion recounted. There, Nolan went through a six-hour procedure, where Ion said they removed five blood clots from his lungs and a couple from his heart.
But, Nolan’s kidneys failed, and he ultimately passed, Ion said.
“I can’t say anything about SickKids, because they have a great reputation,” Ion said. “They did everything they could. The damage was already done.”
Baker said nothing can bring Nolan back, but the hope is that something could be learned here.
“Seeing this young lad pass away from something that maybe could have been preventable,” Baker said. “I don’t want to blame. I’m not trying to. I don’t want somebody else’s child to lose a life because maybe there was something else that could have been done … How can we make this a teaching moment?”
Remembering Nolan
Baker said he had coached Ion throughout his childhood. Although Baker went off to coach in another area, he returned to coach Nolan's team this year.
“We never really disconnected because I always saw him at home, see him in the community. Come, laugh, joke, say hi and make fun of each other,” Baker said. “Easygoing, fun-loving, mild-mannered, respectful young man. Larger than life, always smiling.”
“Just soft, gentle kid, wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Ion said of his son. “Just cared about everybody. He cared about me a lot. He cared about my well-being. Always worried about me.”
The father and son duo had a deep bond over the game of hockey, Baker said.
“Nolan loved the game of hockey,” Baker said. “That was their bond.”
The hockey and surrounding community are showing their support to the family through the tragedy. The Upper York Minor Hockey Association said many teams will be having 50/50, chuck-a-puck and other fundraisers happening in their next games.
“Our heartfelt condolences to the Ion family and the entire hockey community,” the organization said. “Please consider participating to help support the Ion family.”
Several surrounding hockey teams and organizations are also donating to support the family’s GoFundMe.
“From our hockey family to yours,” the Newmarket Renegades U18A team said on GoFundMe of its donation.
The GoFundMe for the family has raised more than $51,000 as of March 20.
Baker said he has worked in minor hockey for all his life and there are no words to describe the response.
“This has hit many, many people,” Baker said. “It’s unthinkable, really … Giving the family some peace, giving the family some really encouraging love. The amount of monetary donations is outstanding. It’s more the gestures, the coming together of teams that compete every day and raise their sticks, and becoming a brotherhood and a sisterhood.
“The hockey world, it’s just a different beast,” Baker said.
Baker said the donations will go to help the family through this difficult time, covering bills while taking some time off work, as well as funeral costs. Although the family is still working out details, Baker said, he added excess funding could go to charity.
TheGoFundMe is available at gofundme.com/f/donate-to-support-nolans-recovery.
“Thank you so much for showing kindness, compassion and where possible, financial assistance to the family during this difficult time,” organizer Alexis Leeking said. “We continue to accept donations on behalf of the family as they will need the support in the days and weeks to come. Our thoughts and prayers are with James, Korina and family.”