The familiar CTV face, a member of the Broadcasters Hall of Fame and host of his own show, was clutching a folded towel to his chest to relieve the pain from heart surgery three weeks ago. He was facing many truths. "This isn't easy," he said of the recovery process.

"I've got great legs," he grinned with characteristic self deprecation. "I should have. I've carried an extra 100 pounds for most of my life."

A month earlier we sat at the same table as Mike waited for his date with surgery. He was in Mike-mode. His laptop was on and he was keeping an eye on e-mail. A television mounted high in a corner was on and he kept an eye on a news channel. In his left hand was a communicator and when a call came in, he glanced at the screen and decided whether to take it or file it. He thumb-typed a message on the hand-held. He munched at a sandwich.

At the same time he was in conversation with me, and never missed a beat. At no time did I feel I did not have his attention -- or at least all I could handle. When he did excuse himself to take a call, I used the break to marvel at the speed of the man's mind.

In 1964, when mayor Charlotte Whitton was making civic politics interesting, Mike was a member of City Hall's press gallery. The city's new budget had just been presented. We were looking at a deep pile of paper filled with numbers, and knowing most of us would be working through the night. Mike read the material at blinding speed, phoned in a report to CFRA, and looked around for company to go for a beer. It earned him a round of impolite suggestions.

The heart surgery seems to have been something of a rebirth. The man who reached out to grab and analyse everything is now focused inward. From the whirlwind life of an award-winning reporter, he's a tired man concentrating on the simple things -- like walking.

"I never before paid attention to those old people we see doing exercises in malls. Now I do. They get out there every day and they do it, even if it hurts. When you get out there with them, you realize: Hey, are they ever tough! And health care workers. I don't think we appreciate them enough until we need them."

"Our health systems are stretched to the limit. I'm part of the leading edge of the (post-war baby boom) wave and it's got the system up to its knees. Over the next few years, when the record high birth rates from 1947 to '50 start rolling through, the systems are going to be over their heads."

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