Senator John Fetterman has said that the stroke that almost derailed his Senate victory last year “technically” killed him – but also left him with no fear of dying.
“I didn’t have a near-death experience, because technically I was dead,” Fetterman, now 54, told Men’s Health about the medical episode two days before his Democratic primary victory that left him hospitalized.
“It’s not like seeing lights or anything, but it feels that everything is bound in things, everything appears, and I’m going up to the window to the sky.”
The lieutenant governor of the Keystone State later recalled being woken up by a doctor who showed him an X-ray, who assured him: “We’ve got this, you don’t have to worry about your stroke.”
“People in their middle age talk about their mortality. I’ve experienced my mortality, so I’m not afraid anymore,” said Fetterman (D-Pa.).
The Pennsylvania senator talks about his painful experience with a stroke and mental health. AP Fetterman says he is not afraid of his death after a stroke. The Washington Post via Getty Images
The father of three also recalled vivid details of the day he suffered the stroke.
“I walked into my SUV after using the men’s room at Sheetz, and my wife, Gisele, said, ‘Oh my God, you’re having a stroke.’ And I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ This part of my face droops,” he explained.
“I am in the process of dying,” he continued. “If this all happened while I was sleeping, I wouldn’t have woken up. Or if we were in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania, I wouldn’t have made it.”
John Fetterman wore a suit in a rather unusual incident in the Senate.Getty Images
After not participating in the campaign for nearly three months, Fetterman believes he has missed an opportunity to defeat the Republican candidate, celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz.
“I didn’t expect to win, to be honest, because we did—it was a torch. ‘You’re retarded.’ ‘You’re a vegetable,’” Fetterman recalled.
“At that point, I stopped eating. I was dehydrated,” he continued. “You’re going to think, ‘Hey, you won,’ and it’s great. But it is not. It confuses and hurts my kids, because they think, ‘You win. What is your problem? What’s our problem?’”
The Pennsylvania Democrat is coy about whether he intends to run again in 2028. The Washington Post via Getty Images
The stroke has left Fetterman affected by auditory processing challenges, forcing him to use a closed-caption monitor to follow what people are saying.
Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed Army Medical Center in February to receive treatment for depression before returning to the Senate in April. He told Men’s Health that he believes he experienced a sort of “melancholy” all the way back to his childhood.
“My origin story is more complicated, because I was an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy for two teenagers who were just casually dating,” he explained.
During that difficult time, John Fetterman recalled not wanting his children to see him while he was being treated for depression. MediaNews Group via Getty Images
“I always felt responsible or ashamed, because basically I was a mistake. So I can never have anything but a low opinion of myself.”
Fetterman praised his wife for being “very supportive” and praised President Biden for being “nice, supportive and polite.”
“We’ve become like a little suicide line. I got so many messages on Twitter,” said his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman. “He was zoomed in on the crowd. A complete stranger. It happens every week, whether someone decides to get help or finally decides to go to therapy.
In addition to expressing gratitude for his recovery, Fetterman is grateful that his father, who is 73 and suffered a near-fatal heart attack days before the interview, is on the mend.
“I can’t imagine if my father’s heart attack had happened six months ago, what would have happened to me. So thankfully I was able to come back 100%,” he said. “When I went to visit him, it was a religious experience. It really is.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
