Alex Tuch used a powerful letter in The Players’ Tribune on Friday to thank the “superheroes at Sisters Buffalo” after the hospital’s staff helped save his son’s life when he was born prematurely.
Tuch, who now plays for the Washington Capitals, said he and his family “are forever indebted to the incredible team” at Sisters Hospital. His son, Teller, arrived three weeks early on April 28, 2025, and was dealing with underdeveloped lungs - including one that had been punctured. Doctors and nurses had to use a ventilator while trying to get him breathing on his own.
In the letter, Tuch described the moment things turned urgent.
“All of a sudden the numbers plummeted,” Tuch wrote in The Players’ Tribune. “The machine started ringing.
His little chest stopped moving. His lung collapsed in front of us.
All these nurses came flying in, right past me. They moved us out of the room and put the bag over his mouth.”
He also recalled hearing his wife Kylie crying from down the hall.
“The sound of [my wife] Kylie crying down the hall from me…. That’s with me forever.
I stood behind the glass with tears in my eyes, and I prayed they’d keep our son alive. To those nurses, all I can say is that we owe you the world.
I don’t know how long that moment lasted…. It could have been 10 seconds.
It felt like 10 years.
“I watched his chest start moving again. Up and down, up and down, up and down.
He started breathing. He came back to us.”
Tuch shared the story two days before World Prematurity Day. He and his wife donated $50,000 to Sisters Hospital in April.
He said Teller and the rest of the family are doing well, and he made sure to thank Buffalo as well, saying it will always be home for them.
“Our boys were born there, and I loved every second of playing for you all,” Tuch wrote. “Thank you for your support, on and off the ice.”
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