Larry Gladchun Larry Gladchun

On Wednesday, February 22, Larry suffered a major heart attack while skiing on the mountain at Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho. I received the worst phone call in my life about 5:20pm that day from Richard Webb (Larry's ski buddy and long time friend of many years). He told me that they were at the Wood River hospital in Sun Valley (Ketchum) and that Larry had collapsed while skiing. 
     It's a long and confusing series of events but Larry and Richard had gone for their last run of the day. They jumped off the chairlift together, and started down the mountain. Larry flew ahead of Richard, as he usually does.  Richard lost track of him but figured they'd meet at the end of the run. Richard got to the end of the run and waited with their two other ski buddies, at the bottom of the hill. No Larry. The timeline gets foggy at this point and even though the ski buddies tried to figure out how long they waited, we've determined it could have been anywhere from 20-60 minutes that they were separated.  
     Richard became very worried when he spotted an ambulance pulling up and a Ski Patrol toboggan coming down the hill. It was Larry. All We know that he collapsed while skiing but there were no witnesses to his collapse so no way to know how long it was before he received help. We do know that an off duty Ski Patroller discovered him and started providing immediate assistance once he found him.  He was found not breathing and no pulse.  
     They attempted to resuscitate him and eventually got a pulse, stabilized him and worked their way down to the base of the mountain (a 20-30 minute journey, I'm told), and rushed him to the local hospital. I'm told that they had to shock him with the AED at least two times to get his heart started. In a short time, they determined Larry needed to be taken to a facility better equipped to deal with the severity of what happened. They helicoptered him to St Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center, where we are now. 
     Larry had a blood clot that completely blocked his Left Anterior Descending Coronary Artery. It caused a major heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest. The doctors at this hospital were able to suck the blood clot out, installed one or two stents and got him somewhat stabilized. His heart is not working at its highest capacity and there has been a number of other complications. He is unconscious, breathing with himself and a ventilator, sedated and unresponsive as of this writing. 
     The biggest concern is brain damage because of the undetermined amount of time he had no oxygen. He has many tubes and machines supporting him at this moment and it is unnerving to me to see him in this helpless state. Jeff, our son, and I arrived Thursday afternoon. Our daughter Sara is enroute from Madrid and I hope we will all be together here by midnight tonight (Friday, February 24). My brothers Bob and Joe, who both happen to live in Boise, are here with us too. Larry's three ski buddies were with him up til yesterday afternoon and headed back home to Utah yesterday. 
     We all want to know the prognosis for Larry as quickly as possible but it will take days before we know. 
      Thank you all so much for you prayers, your calls, texts, emails and your good thoughts and wishes. You have no idea how much this is appreciated  Please don't stop praying for Larry. My gut tells me we need a miracle.