Helen Hart in coma
By NADIA MOHARIB -- Calgary Sun
Six months after anxiously awaiting husband Stu's recovery from heart problems, Helen Hart's family is now keeping vigil at her Foothills Hospital bedside.
The 76-year-old matriarch of the legendary Hart family of wrestlers was rushed to Foothills yesterday.
Daughter Ellie Neidhart said her mother was in serious condition after a possible stroke and complications from diabetes.
"The doctors say it could go either way," Neidhart said from her parent's home last night.
"She is a good, strong, fighting, gutsy person. We really just have to wait. No one really knows what's happening."
Family noticed subtle changes in Helen since she returned from a trip to visit her sister in San Francisco on Tuesday.
They scheduled a medical exam for yesterday morning after she became groggy and irritated.
In the morning, Helen's husband Stu noticed her condition had worsened.
"She wasn't having clear sentences and we called the paramedics out," Neidhart said.
"It's a good thing. In the emergency, she had a seizure and actually stopped breathing."
Helen is now heavily sedated, in a coma and is undergoing a battery of tests.
"She is like a rag doll and has no idea anyone is there," Neidhart said.
"Our world has been rocked again."
Tragedy has repeatedly struck the Hart family in recent years.
Helen and Stu's son Owen was killed in a pro-wrestling stunt in May 1999, and 86-year-old Stu was hospitalized for nearly two weeks earlier this year after suffering from pneumonia and heart troubles.
