Helping out a funny man

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This article was published 08/03/2017 (3418 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was early January and veteran Winnipeg comedian and TV personality Jon Ljungberg sensed something was terribly wrong.

He could barely walk five feet without getting exhausted and his legs were swollen to the point where he was forced to wear slip-on clogs instead of his normal shoes.

“I looked like a little old lady with cankles,” the 54-year-old comic recalls, resting on the couch with his beloved basset hound, Cooper, in his St. Boniface home. “I was a big mess.”

Just how big a mess he was about to find out.

A few weeks later, Ljungberg, a fixture on the local standup scene and an 11-year co-host on Citytv’s Breakfast Television, was lying in bed when, suddenly, he couldn’t catch his breath and his heart was pounding like the drummer for a heavy metal band.

In the morning, his girlfriend and soulmate, Lori Tresoor, took one look at him and knew they had to get to the hospital.

“I said, ‘Enough is enough,’ ” Tresoor recalls. “He didn’t put up any fight. I couldn’t even get him to the car. He collapsed in a snowbank. Fortunately, a guy came along with his dog and helped me get him in the vehicle.

“By the time we got to St. Boniface Hospital, he was in and out of consciousness. He had been bleeding internally and his liver had failed and he was in dire straits. It was really scary; he couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk.

“His liver had shut down and his heart was enlarged. On top of that, he had double pneumonia, so both lungs were filled with fluid.”

In hospital, he needed six blood transfusions immediately to stabilize his condition.

“I lost 61/2 pints of blood in my body somewhere,” Ljungberg recalls with a whisper of a smile. “If you see it, let me know.”

After about six weeks of intensive hospital care, the local comedy icon is back at home with his family. But his health and financial troubles are far from over.

“Jon needs ongoing care,” Tresoor says matter-of-factly. “He developed some cognitive and motor-skill problems. He isn’t going to be able to work for who knows how long. That’s just the reality.”

The comedian’s sense of humour is intact — “I’m having issues. The other day I called my daughter ‘Dad,’” he says, sighing — but he’s facing a long, challenging road to recovery. Thankfully, he’s not walking that road alone.

The tight-knit Winnipeg comedy community is rallying to Ljungberg’s side in an effort to raise cash to help ease the financial burden on a beloved colleague and friend.

Local standup stalwart Big Daddy Tazz, Ljungberg’s good buddy, has organized a fundraising comedy night on March 13 at Rumor’s Restaurant and Comedy Club, 190-2025 Corydon Ave., in the Tuxedo Park Shopping Centre.

(Rumor’s owner Sheldon Mindell donated the club for the evening. “I’d really like to thank Sheldon,” Ljungberg says in a hushed voice.)

Along with Big Daddy Tazz, the show will feature the comedy talent of Lara Rae, Dean Jenkinson and others. Tickets are $15 and are available online at RumorsComedyClub.com or by calling Rumor’s at 204-488-4520.

Also, donations can be made on a GoFundMe page, Jon+Lori’s Road to Recovery, set up by Jon’s daughter, Brittney.

“It’s for Jonny,” says Tazz, who briefly lived in Jon’s basement when he moved here from Saskatchewan in 1993. “We’re helping someone who has helped the community for the 20-plus years that he’s lived here.

“Jon has always been my go-to guy for charities. He never says no. And Lori is very dear to my heart. We have to help the people who help us. He’s family. Not just my comedy family. We’re thick as thieves. We collaborated on a children’s book (Ljungberg is also a talented illustrator). Through thick and thin, we’ve been there for each other.”

The support from the local comedy community — and the rest of Winnipeg — has touched the couple deeply.

What you might not know is that, a week into Ljungberg’s hospital stay, Tresoor, 54, shattered her leg when she slipped on the ice in front of the couple’s home and had to be taken to hospital for emergency surgery.

“I have a huge rod in my leg right now,” she says, parked in a comfy chair with her injured leg encased in a walking cast. “It felt like God was forcing me to rest… The outpouring of generosity has been really amazing. You forget how many lives Jon has touched.”

For his part, Ljungberg knows he’s facing a hard road to get back to the business of making people laugh, but it’s a journey he’s determined to make.

“I’ve got to get back on the stage,” he declares, his tired eyes suddenly flashing hidden steel. “I’ve got to make a living. I’m totally blown away with Tazz putting the fundraiser together. It blows my mind.”

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca