“Whenever someone walked through my door they were calm, professional, friendly and everything was fantastic.” – Gary

It was a special day. When he woke up that morning Gary Byers had plans to take his wife Wendy out for their twenty first wedding anniversary. Unfortunately his body had other ideas. Instead of a lovely meal out with his wife – Gary would end up in hospital for six days to manage a severe condition that caught him totally unprepared.

At the age of 64 Gary had never spent a night in the hospital before. But a bloody bowel movement caused great concern. He was never in pain and wasn’t sure exactly what to do but decided to get checked out at Brightshores Wiarton Hospital. While waiting in the emergency room he passed out. He remembers waking up on the floor with his legs being held in the air and a doctor rubbing his chest.

The entire time the team in Wiarton was consulting with colleagues at the Owen Sound Hospital. They opted to send Gary home that night but told him if it didn’t get better he should head to the emergency department in Owen Sound. The situation didn’t improve by morning go Gary headed to the Owen Sound Hospital.

He spent the next six days in hospital. He had six transfusions, a colonoscopy, an MRI, and several consultations. Everything was explained to him every step of the way. Gary said, “Whenever someone walked through my door they were calm, professional, friendly and everything was fantastic.” Even when things were at their worst he never felt worried.

“You take it for granted. That it will be here when you need it and for me it was here when I needed it.”

Things became a bit surreal during on moment when he crashed. One second he was talking with Wendy and his sister Donna then the next moment he was surrounded by people in a controlled kind of chaos. Suddenly, he was hooked up to all kinds of equipment that wasn’t there before. Wendy told him “when I told them something was wrong people were there instantly. It must have been seconds and an entire team was tehre taking care of you.”

If you ask, Gary will tell you that the whole thing was seamless and impressivley integrated. He still marvels at the number of people and teams who cared for him. Everything and everyone worked together. He expressed his gratitude for the emergency teams, the nurses, the doctors, the volunteers, the blood donors, the people who cleaned his room, the gentleman who took his food order, and the lab tech who took his blood every morning.  He said, ” you could have laughs with everyone and that’s a big part of it I think.”

If you know Gary you know he likes to joke around. It became a bit of a joke that whenever someone would leave his room they’d say “Gary, can I get you anything?” and he’d reply “you can get me out of here!” But in a serious moment he’ll admit it was something special. The people were always putting their patients first.

His time in the hospital helped his gastrointestinal system heal. They scanned and scoped and checked everything they could check. Some small pockets of Diverticulosis in his colon may have contributed to the bleeding. He’s back to fishing and puffer league hockey. He spends as much time with his grandkids as he can.

He’s extremely thankful for the care. “You take it for granted. That it will be here when you need it and for me it was here when I needed it.” Over the 2025 holiday season Gary made a donation to the hospital and Wendy put together a goodie tray to share their thanks with the team in the surgical unit. When asked why he did that he said, “I just wanted them to know I appreciate what they did for me. I wanted to thank them and recognize the incredible work they’re doing.”