TLC Star Jon Gosselin is revealing a terrifying health scare that nearly proved fatal weeks before his wedding. In an interview with the Daily Mail, the former “Jon & Kate Plus 8” explained that he was getting ready to marry his then fiancée, Stephanie Lebo, when he suddenly started feeling intense pain in his leg. And that was just the beginning of his ordeal.
‘I Could Have Died’: Doctors Diagnosed Life-Threatening Pulmonary Embolisms
Gosselin described how doctors diagnosed him with life-threatening pulmonary embolisms. He went on to explain that the next day, the pain moved to his upper shoulder. The following night, he woke up after midnight suffering from a severe coughing fit.
“I was like, ‘Something is wrong,’” Gosselin told The Daily Mail. “I coughed up what looked like silly putty – it was a blood clot.”
In a sincere attempt not to worry anyone else in the home, Gosselin decided to drive himself to the hospital, a choice he later admitted could have proved fatal.
“If you have deep-vein thrombosis, you could die at the wheel,” he said.
GettyFollowing an MRI, doctors discovered that Gosselin was suffering from two bilateral pulmonary embolisms and ordered additional imaging for closer evaluation.
“Stephanie was scared to death,” he said, adding that his daughter Hannah and son Collin, 21, both “freaked out” once they learned the seriousness of his condition.
Gosselin added that medication helped stabilize his condition. Gosselin said his current treatment includes blood pressure and heart medication, as well as aspirin and Eliquis, which helps prevent blood clots.
“I’m on heart meds, blood pressure meds, aspirin, and then I take Eliquis. It’s a drug that prevents blood clots,” he explained. He vulnerably added, “But I definitely could have died. If I had just stayed home that night, I could have had a real pulmonary embolism and just died.”
Wedding Marked New Chapter After Health Crisis
Several weeks after the health scare, Gosselin, father of 8, married Stephanie Lebo at The Barn at Silverstone in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in front of 180 guests, according to TMZ.
Only two of his eight children, Hannah and Collin, attended the ceremony, with Collin serving as a groomsman. His other six children, Madelyn, Cara, Aaden, Leah, Alexis, and Joel, were absent amid ongoing estrangement.
Gosselin and ex-wife Kate Gosselin rose to fame in the late 2000s through their TLC series, which chronicled life with twins Madelyn and Cara and sextuplets Aaden, Hannah, Leah, Alexis, Collin, and Joel.
The former couple married in 1999 and finalized their divorce in 2009.
