Bishop TD Jakes has revealed that he suffered a "massive heart attack" during the freighting incident in which he collapsed on-stage during a sermon in November. Reflecting on the incident while appearing on the TODAY show on Wednesday, Jakes explained that he nearly died.
"I didn’t really realize what was happening to me onstage until I got to the hospital in an ambulance," he said. "And the doctor leaned over in my ear and said, ‘You’ve had a massive heart attack.’" He then explained that he was shocked by the diagnosis. “I just kind of drifted off to sleep. I didn’t know what it was," he explained. "[The doctor] said five minutes later, I’d have been dead on arrival. The right side of my heart had completely stopped pumping blood. As long as I was up preaching, I felt fine. But when I sat down, the adrenaline dropped, exposing the fact that I had been preaching with half of my heart blocked by a clot.”
TD Jakes' Medical Emergency
From there, TD Jakes noted that he was awake during the clot-removal procedure. "I later knew that I was on my way out when I passed out on the pulpit," he said. "In retrospect, it was such a privilege to stand on the other side—to get a little glimpse of what that might be like, at least in that moment. I think it was absolutely amazing. My whole church—globally, not just my congregation—along with people who don’t even attend my church, were sending prayers. I’m so thankful.” When TODAY shared the clip on Instagram, fans showed tons of support in the comments section. LL Cool J was among them.
TD Jakes previously made national headlines his remarks after after CNN published footage of Diddy assaulting Cassie, last year. "Then, a woman said to me, ‘Would you please pray for women who are living in danger in their own house?'" he said during a sermon at the time. "And there was something about the way she said it… It was a cry for help. The atrocious, degrading, demeaning, debauchery — I know who it was, but I saw my daughters. As a man, I saw my daughters, and it made me angry… And I thought if it affected me like that as a man, how much more is that image a trigger for women who have been through that, who are currently going through that… And feel trapped in situations where you are being physically and emotionally and verbally abused?"
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