Amid his sermon last November, Bishop TD Jakes, leader of Dallas’s megachurch, The Potter’s House, was rushed to the hospital with what the church called in its official statement a “health incident.” Many speculated that it was a stroke. However, Bishop Jakes sat down with Today Show host Craig Melvin this week to reveal that he suffered a massive heart attack.
Bishop Jakes says he didn’t realize what had happened to him until he arrived at the hospital in an ambulance.
“I was fussing about this happening while I was onstage. Then a doctor leaned over in my ear and said, ‘You’ve had a massive heart attack,’” he recalled.
One of the reasons he didn’t know he was having a cardiac event was that Bishop Jakes wasn’t experiencing the symptoms he’s heard about, numbness or sharp pain. “I just sort of… drifted off to sleep. I didn’t know what it was…but I almost died. [The doctor] said five minutes later, I would have been dead on arrival,” Bishop Jakes explained.
Jakes continued. “The right side of my heart had stopped giving blood at all. As long as I was up preaching, I felt fine, but when I sat down, the adrenaline dropped, and it exposed the fact that I was preaching with half of my heart closed through a clot.” That required surgery.
Melvin and Bishop Jakes talked about being so close to death and that he was at peace the whole time. “And then I had my whole church, and when I say my whole church, I mean global, not just the congregation. Even people who didn’t go to my church, people everywhere were sending prayers. I am so thankful and want to use this opportunity to thank them,” he said.
“And while they were praying, the surgeons were operating while I was awake. They never put me to sleep; technology is amazing,” Bishop Jakes continued.
You would think that after recovering from a massive heart attack, Bishop Jakes would slow down. No, he is doing more. Look for a new podcast coming soon.
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