Pat Sajak's Family Feared For His Life During Emergency Surgery, 'They Didn't Know If I'm Coming Out'
Pat Sajak is luckily to be alive after an extreme medical condition required him to have emergency surgery that saved his life. The long-time "Wheel Of Fortune" host sat down with "ABC News" on Friday and gave his first interview after his near-death experience. He described "horrific pain" in his stomach due to an intestinal blockage.
"Excruciating," Sajak said to describe the pain. "You couldn't do anything, I was in the fetal position lying on the bed."
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Life Or Death Situation
Although Sajak described the unbearable pain, he expressed that the whole ordeal was particularly tough on his family.
"My blood pressure had fallen dramatically, they had to wait till it lifted a bit to do the surgery," Sajak said. "It was tough on Leslie. My wife and daughter were with me and they didn't know, I mean, you go in and they don't know if I'm coming out."
His medical issue has been described as an intestinal blockage but the game show host alluded to the fact that it was actually much more serious and the doctors still have not figured out the cause.
"No one knows exactly why they [the intestines] can get tangled up in each other and then they start working against each other and actually killing tissue," Sajak continued, "if you don't deal with it quickly it will kill enough tissue that it will kill you."
Pat's Out Of Body Experience
The "Wheel Of Fortune" host detailed the crazy experience he had while he was under the influence of medication and actually said he was at peace with his mortality but was fearful of his family's lives being shaken up.
"They gave me something, and I couldn't even tell you the name of it, but suddenly I wasn't thinking about the pain," Pat described. "I just had these beautiful pastels and lovely faces coming out of it."
He claimed the drugs made him think he was experiencing the sensation of passing on.
"In the background, I could hear my wife and daughter talking, it sounded like they were a mile off but they were right next to me, and I remember thinking this must be death, this is what death must be like."
At that moment, he realized that he was not afraid of dying but leaving his loved ones behind.
"All I thought of was, hearing their voices I thought, 'boy, their lives are gonna change now.' and I felt badly for them."
