Then just last week he had another health crisis that sent him to Vancouver for life-saving emergency treatment. When he passed out from the pain, Hartney was rushed to the hospital where it was discovered he was bleeding internally at an alarming rate. As time was of the essence, the decision was made to fly Hartney to Vancouver General for emergency surgery. His spouse, Samantha Childs, updated The Citizen with the latest news and said Hartney had many blood transfusions to keep him alive during transport and then during treatment. We almost lost him a couple times, Childs said. The experts couldn t go the less invasive route to discover where Hartney was bleeding from and finally did major stomach surgery where they removed 18 litres of fluid, Childs said.