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Leiper, Blais have heart-to-heart over health scare

On Thursday morning, less than 24 hours after suffering a heart attack while shovelling snow, Kitchissippi ward Coun. Jeff Leiper took time to weigh in on an item before the city's planning committee.

"It looks like the site plan stuff went through easy-peasy. I wanted to be there to support it," Leiper, 48, texted his colleague, committee chair Jan Harder.

Coun. Harder, who read the message aloud during the meeting, texted back telling Leiper to relax, and asked him how he was feeling.

"I am excellent. I want to go shovel a bike lane," Leiper responded, drawing laughter from the audience in the committee room.

Blais had heart attack at 32

Among the other councillors at the meeting was Stephen Blais, who in 2013 suffered a serious heart attack during a workout. Blais, then just 32, underwent CPR and was later placed in a medically induced coma.

He spent close to four months in hospital undergoing treatment and rehabilitation before eventually returning to work at City Hall.

My advice to Jeff is to listen to his doctors and his nurses. - Coun. Stephen Blais

Blais said Thursday he'd already reached out to Leiper.

"He sounded in very, very good spirits," Blais said. "My advice to Jeff is to listen to his doctors and his nurses and his orderlies. The doctors will give you very good theoretical advice, in my experience, and the nurses and occupational therapists gave very good practical, real-life advice.

"I think listening to that advice from all sides is the best way to ensure you have a speedy recovery, and one that's going to last a long time."

Giacomo Panico/CBC
Giacomo Panico/CBC

Blais said learning of his colleague's heart attack triggered a flood of emotions in him.

"It's something I think about pretty often," Blais said. But there's an upside to the whole experience, too.

"It just gives us a better appreciation of the place that we live in, and the kinds of experiences that are available to us."

Asked whether he believes, either in his case or Leiper's, that the stress of the job led to their heart attacks, Blais said no.

"I don't think so. I'm certainly someone who thrives off stress. No matter what job I would be in, I'd probably live off the stress. My sense from Jeff is that he operates similarly."