Wheel of Fortune's Pat Sajak, 73, reveals he thought he was dying when he underwent emergency surgery for a blocked intestine
- Pat Sajak, 73, was rushed to hospital in November to have surgery on a blocked intestine after suffering horrific pains in his stomach
- Sajak said the health scare quickly intensified after he was rushed to hospital with doctors telling him they had to operate immediately or he could risk dying
- The veteran TV host said he was sure he was dying at one point when doctors were giving him strong medication
- During this recent health scare, his long time co-host Vanna White stepped in to cover his duties on the show
Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak has opened up about the life-threatening illness that forced him to undergo emergency surgery last month, saying at one point he thought it 'must be death'.
The 73-year-old game show host was rushed to hospital in November to have surgery on a blocked intestine after suffering horrific pains in his stomach and a dramatic drop in blood pressure.
In his first interview since undergoing surgery, Sajak told Good Morning America on Friday that he started experiencing the pains after returning from a walk with his daughter.
Pat Sajak was rushed to hospital in November to have surgery on a blocked intestine after suffering horrific pains in his stomach and a dramatic drop in blood pressure
He said the health scare quickly intensified after he was rushed to hospital with doctors telling him they had to operate immediately or he could risk dying.
'I didn't know what it (was) but within two and a half hours, I was in surgery. It was that quick and intense,' Sajack said.
'You couldn't do anything. I was in (a) fetal position, lying on the bed.
'They try to give you various drugs for the pain. And none of it was working. And then they gave me something, I couldn't even tell you the name of it, but suddenly, I wasn't thinking about the pain. I just had these beautiful pastels and lovely faces coming out of it.'
Sajack said that in that moment he was sure he was dying.
'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,' he said.
'They were talking to each other. And I remember thinking, not in a morbid way, 'I think this must be death. This must be what death is like'.'
In his first interview since undergoing surgery, Sajak told Good Morning America on Friday that the health scare quickly intensified after he was rushed to hospital with doctors telling him they had to operate immediately or he could risk dying
During this recent health scare, his long time co-host Vanna White stepped in to cover his duties on the show
'Hearing their voices, I thought, 'Boy, their lives are gonna change now.' And I felt badly for them. I didn't feel badly about dying. I felt badly that they were gonna have to deal with the aftermath. As it turned out, I was just high.'
Despite being a frightening moment for the veteran TV personality, Sajack said he was 'feeling great' now.
'I've actually felt ridiculously good for several weeks. I've been back in the studio actually, doing shows. Even spinning the wheel and, you know, nothing has popped. So I think it's okay,' he said.
Share this article
'I'm as good or bad as new, and that's great. I still have my wits about me. They didn't remove that, so I'll be selling vowels for a long time.'
Sajack, who has been recovering for the past month, had rarely missed a day of taping in the 40 years he has hosted Wheel of Fortune.
During this recent health scare, his long time co-host Vanna White stepped in to cover his duties on the show.
Sajak and White have co-hosted the show since the early 1980s.
She filled in for him once before for one segment of the show when Sajak had laryngitis in 1996.
