Well it’s been a crazy summer for me. As I am sure you have heard — I have had an interesting past couple months. Between everything that was keeping me busy like the Aggie basketball games, my trip to ESPN, and filming Thrillbillies I was having a blast but never would have guessed that my body was shutting down.
I won’t bore you with all of the medical mumbo jumbo but in a nutshell what happened is I have an enlarged heart. That by itself isn’t a walk in the park but on top of that I had a blood clot in each ventricle and in my lungs, my liver was shutting down, and my kidneys were ready to go as well. To say the least I was not doing my best. Being a little bit of the stubborn guy that I am I decided not to go to the hospital but finally my dear mother dragged me to Instacare to see what was wrong. Our first instinct was that it was pneumonia but it turned out that just wasn’t the case. After hearing the doctor’s instructions and losing an argument with my mom I finally ended up in the Emergency Room. Once I arrived it was immediately decided that I should be flown to Salt Lake City to the IMC hospital.
After a long week under heavy sedation in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, I was removed from life support and was able to see my family. I don’t remember a thing from that week but have been told about my crazy antics. Turns out, I know sign language (and I’m not talking about the middle finger). I guess I was using sign language to communicate with people and one doctor though I might be deaf … who knew I could sign?
I spent just under a month in the hospital and I can’t say it was my favorite but I really appreciate everything that the doctors and nurses did for me. I had so much love and support from my family and friends. I have always known my family was close and that we support each other but this proved to me and everyone else how much love one family can have. There wasn’t a minute that went by that my mom or sisters weren’t watching over me. Everyone’s plans for June definitely didn’t go as planned but I really love them for hanging out with me.
To everyone who sent cards, letters, email or just your thoughts and prayers I sincerely thank you. You all have been so good to me; I could not believe how much mail I received. My walls were completely covered in cards and drawings. Thank you so much for your support, it really meant a lot to both me and my family. I don’t know if my mom and sisters could have made it without all of you.
I am an Aggie fan to the core and I made sure everyone in the hospital knew it. It was extremely important that none of my nurses were fans of BYU. It did make for some interesting times and my nurses would plan pranks on me by putting BYU stuff in my room to see if I would notice. The Wednesday after I was released from ICU I was on my regular floor talking with my sister and a friend when I noticed my vision was going out, I asked my sister to get the nurse then I passed out. My heart stopped and I had no pulse for seven minutes. After a few minutes of CPR, right before they were about to hit me with the defibrillator I woke up and the first thing out of my mouth was, “there better not be any BYU fans in here, if so I think I’d rather die!” That gave the doctors and nurses a little shock. I really don’t hate BYU I just don’t think they should be allowed to breathe the same air as the rest of us.
I have been getting lots of questions about whether or not I’ll be at Aggie sporting events this year, HECK YA! Even if I have to be wheeled out in a wheel chair, I will be there. I had a month to sit in the hospital and do nothing but think of new costumes – I can’t let those go to waste. Look for me this year at some of the football games, I have put a few things together with the school. “I believe” it will be a good year even though we will be losing some teams from the WAC. I am not worried, the WAC has something MWC will never have … ME!
I love you all and thanks again for all of your support.
Wild Bill's Official Blog 
