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Bret Hart suffers stroke
Canadian Press


Calgary — Legendary Calgary wrestler Bret (The Hitman) Hart has suffered a mild stroke and was in stable condition in a Calgary hospital, his personal assistant said Thursday.

"He's making phenomenal progress," Marcy Engelstein told the Calgary Herald.

Wrestling historian and author Dave Meltzer reported on his Web site that Mr. Hart's stroke resulted from a bicycle accident Monday.

Mr. Meltzer said Mr. Hart, who turns 45 on Wednesday, was riding on a city bike path when his bicycle hit a pothole. The wrestler flew over the handlebars and landed on the back of his head.

Ms. Engelstein said Mr. Hart called for help on his cellphone and an ambulance picked him up, taking him to an undisclosed Calgary hospital. After a battery of tests, he was told he had suffered a stroke on the right side of his brain.

"We'll never be absolutely sure whether the stroke caused the fall or the fall caused the stroke," Ms. Engelstein said. "Bret has maintained all along, and he remembers it clearly, that the pothole caused the fall."

Ms. Engelstein said doctors anticipate "a 100 per cent recovery," although that "may take a few months" and a lengthy hospital stay.

"Doctors have told the family that because he is in such good condition, it's helping him recover," she said.

Mr. Hart, a former world wrestling champion with both the World Wrestling Federation and Ted Turner's now defunct World Championship Wrestling, was forced to retire in 2000 after he suffered a concussion during a match with the wrestler Goldberg.

Mr. Hart was warned that he could suffer a stroke if he took another blow to the head.

When contacted Thursday evening, Bret's father, Stu Hart said: "He did have an accident while riding his bike and he's in the hospital."

Ms. Engelstein said Mr. Hart has limited control of the left side of his body and will require therapy to walk and to use his left arm.

The Hart family has seen more than its share of tragedy in recent years.

In May, Mr. Hart's brother-in-law, 39-year-old wrestler Davey Boy Smith died of a heart attack at a British Columbia resort, and last November Mr. Hart's 76-year-old mother died after complications with diabetes.

Mr. Hart's brother, Owen, plunged to his death on pay-per-view television while performing for the World Wrestling Federation in Kansas City, Mo. in May, 1999.

Another brother, Dean, died in 1990 of kidney failure. The family also lost a young member of their clan when Matthew Annis died in 1996 of flesh-eating disease.