February 3, 2025 • 21 mins
"This has been my George Bailey moment, you know?" Back home from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Wes Johnson checks in with Elliot In The Morning.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, how you doing, Elliott?
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am better than you.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey, well, actually, you know what, Life is pretty good
right now, Elliott. Life is pretty good because there is life,
so that's important.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So wes back me up a little bit.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I mean, we saw a little bit of the of
the obviously we saw the post online and you were
down in Atlanta and you were doing a you were doing.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Like a like a fundraiser, voicing a fundraiser.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
And then next thing, next thing we hear is that
you know nobody, nobody can find you.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
So what like, what is the last thing you remember?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Last thing I remember is getting off the airplane, being exhausted,
going to the hotel, went to the hotel, crash, just
went right to say, didn't even undress, just lay down
in the bed and went to sleep. Woke up at
about four in the morning. I was supposed to go
to the Alzheimer's Association. I was doing a big m
seeing the thing, speaking for the national thing, and I
(01:02):
thought I was there a day early. I thought I
just go say hello, and then I was like, no,
I'm too exhausted. Fourth in the morning, I sent a
text to my wife saying sorry I slept through the day.
Uh and evidently looked at it later it was full
of typos, went back to sleep. She tried to call
me all next day.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So at four in the morning, so not answering, we
was it's four in the morning.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
You send you send a garbled text if you will
to your wife, and then you went You went back
to bed or were you out?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
You know what I mean like, did you intentionally go
back to bed?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I never I never got out of bed. I opened
my eyes, I realized what time it was. I grabbed
my phone. I texted my wife. I went right back.
I closed my eyes and went right back to sleep
right And as far as I was concerned, I was just,
you know, gonna recharge, catch up, you know, then go
(01:56):
do this big function. Evidently, because I was on this airplane,
I was dehydrated, I had there were issues that started
going on with all my internal organs. Whether it was
something I'd eaten, whether it's some internal bacteria, whether it
was had something to do with my kidneys. Things started
(02:16):
shutting down. I mean, it's pretty scary because you're just
taking a nap and the next thing you know, nobody
can reach you. My wife called. Finally in the afternoon,
my son called and got security to open the door
and they found me and the words they used were
unresponsive with very little pulse. I was basically da when
(02:38):
the ambulance and the paramedics got there. Wes what got
to Emory University Hospital?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
What got to the point where?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Like?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
What at what point in the day?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
So, like you said, four am, you send a garble tax,
you go back to bed, and then you know, next
thing you know, the security is coming in what time?
Like what triggered that something is wrong? Was it you
not showing up at the event?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah, not that I was not showing up with the event.
It's that I didn't call my wife. Here's the thing,
you know, you stay in contact with your wife, Elliott,
even though you're doing things. She'll send a note. Ever,
once a while she reaches out to you. You'll reach
out to her, you know, and she knows you're busy,
she knows you've got stuff going on. And my wife
knew that as well about me, So she leaves me
alone most of the time during these events, but she
(03:30):
knows that I will always respond to her, and for
me to not respond to her for over thirteen hours
was unusual. Wow, and so not being able to reach
anybody or reach me, or not knowing what's going on.
She was worried about me before I left. She has
never asked me not to do a job, never except
this one time. What she said, I feel you don't
(03:53):
look good today. She said, I was breathing weird. She
said I looked tired. And I said, I've got to
do this. I mean, the people at the Alzheimer's Association
are some of the best people, Elliott did you ever
want to meet? And sure, I'm so proud to be
a part of them that I did not want to
let them down. I wasn't gonna let them down. And
(04:14):
I told her, I said, I can't do that. I
made a commitment. So the thing is, you need to
listen to your wife sometimes because no.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
But all of us would have been in that boat
where if it was like, hey, like you know, hey,
you look tired, Well, of course I'm tired.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
We're all tired, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And I'm not saying that to be crappy about your
wife showing that being care you know, being careful, But
I mean everybody writes that off in their head. Of
course I'm tired, you know whatever, it is. You find
a way to just go. Yeah, I'm fine, I'm going.
Everything's good. I'll take a nap when I get there.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Because we grind. That's what we do. We grind and
we keep going no matter what. And we'll sacrifice. We'll
sacrifice our bodies for the job, will sacrifice our energy,
everything we have for something. I just didn't realize I
was sacrificing everything for it.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
So they come in, security, opens the door.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
You're laying in the in the in the hot in
the hotel bed, unresponsive, with barely with barely a pulse.
I assume at that point the hotel goes crazy, starts
calling paramedics, and now the race is on.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Exactly right, exactly right, everybody. I get to do the
Dog and Pony shows. They're taking me out and everybody
stopping to see who that is. They take me to
this emergency room. They put me in a medically induced
coma elliott. I am then put on every machine. They
start doing round the clock dialysis for three days. They
(05:46):
start doing blood transfers. They're going to extraordinary efforts. They
called my wife and told her, they said, you need
to be here right now, sooner than later. I mean,
you need to get end of life protocols in place.
So everybody in my family is scared to death. Everybody's terrified.
I have no idea what's going on, and they all
(06:08):
end up. Alzheimer's Association pays for my wife and son
to fly wow to Atlanta, and they put them up
in rooms and put my family up in rooms and
they stay with me. Elliott. They send people to stay
and sit with me while I'm in a coma, and
so my family gets there. They're good people.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
How long were you? How did so you're in the
medically induced coma? How what started to improve? Where they
were like, let's now's the time, let's try to wake
wess up.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
They kept me in the koma for about two and
a half days and then they started bringing me out.
And at that point I was already intubated, which is
why my voice is a little rough. Right. I had
a big tube down my throat. I was on ten
million wires. Looked like something out of you know, science
fiction film. My family was all they talked to me
(07:04):
the first day, and everything didn't seem real. I don't
remember them. They don't they're looking at me. My son
told me later he said, I only knew that Dad
was there because at one point someone said something and
his eyebrows went up. The attack eyebrows went up, so
I knew that Dad was in there. Right. The only
thing I started remembering is when I came around. When
(07:26):
I finally came around, I got a chance to sit
there and watch the NFC Championship game. Do you know
how hard it is to watch an NFC Championship game
that your team is in when they've got you intubated
and you can't cheer.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
So but now Wes correct me if I'm wrong, I
feel like I mean, and listen, that's horrible, right. I
can't imagine your your wife and kids sitting in that
hotel or hotel excuse me, hospital room, knowing like to
get end of life affairs in order, and the how
emotionally that that has to be. But I feel like
(08:09):
the next thing we know is you've got on a
Caps jacket and like you're out of the hospital. Well,
it's amazing, I was.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I was told the day after the championship game. The
day after that, they removed the uh, they excavated me, right,
and I was able to finally talk and I got
to tell you before then, Elliott, I was afraid I
would never talk again. You don't know if you've had
a stroke. In fact, I tried to write notes to
people and it was coming out jarbled, which is all
(08:41):
fine now the brain's rewired itself, right, But it was
I was afraid I would never talk again. Suddenly I'm
able to talk. I started bouncing back. The doctors and
nurses told me it was like miraculous. They said, we
can't believe that you are responding the way you're responding,
that you're all there. Still, there was a guy who
came in with my exact same symptoms the week before me,
(09:01):
who didn't make it. So I'm I mean, I had
to think, Elliott, that you know, my friend Bill Glasser
put together Bill Glasser and Sherroker and put together this
GoFundMe for my wife, right, and which is all in
place for like three days before I wake up. And
(09:24):
suddenly I wake up to all this, all this crazy
love online that you never knew existed, People sending you
these messages telling you what you've meant to them, and
you don't know. The caps, Elliott. The caps came through
so big, and they've been so cool. They have been
so wonderful with Kim, and you know, Alexa Eichler has
(09:48):
been wonderful dealing with Kim. And they're like, you take
your time, and you get healthy, West and when you're ready,
you come back, when you get your strength and you're
able to move and speak. Ted doing a donation as
huge as he had he did for the GoFundMe, and
some people are like, this guy should take care of you.
(10:08):
I'm not an employee, Elliott. I'm an independent contract right,
you know that's a different kind of thing. But I
have been with a team for twenty five years. Let
me tell you something. What what Ted leonss did for
me and my family is above and beyond. And I'm
blown away by it. What the Caps have done for me,
(10:29):
what Bees the game studios have done. All the different
gaming fans that have come out of the woodwork and
tell me what my characters and my work has meant
to them over their life. I mean, this has been
my George Bailey moment. You know, it's all like always
are those those pedals? You know? No? But I mean
that is normally have to actually physically die right before
(10:52):
they get to hear this kind of stuff being said
about them, and I'm you're right, Elliott. I was able
to walk out of the hospital. But the thing is,
I'm not able to walk as well as I was. Right,
I'm on a cane right now. I went the other
day with my wife to go drop off pants at
Sam's Club, and I could that was a whole thing,
(11:15):
just could barely move. I ended up getting on that cart.
You know, it's a little buzzy yeah, right, scooters which
you look at and you go ha and you scoff. Well,
let me tell you when you're walking in with a
cane real slow and you're like, slow down, everybody, Oh, please,
don't go so fast, don't do this, and then you
get on that scooter, you're like, get out of my way. Mother, mother,
(11:38):
you know.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So, Wes, let me ask you this, what is what
is the the And by the way, I feel like, Wes,
I'm not a doctor.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Do we really have to go to Sam's Club that quickly?
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Like?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Can't we can't?
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Can't we take a week or two before we have
to go to the Sam's We.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Could, we could, we could. But the fact of the
matter is I went out basically to go get Starbucks.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
There we stopped by it.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
You know, you know the day before that this is
a small excursion. I'm basically I'm sitting at home and
I'm doing nothing. It was it was basically so I
could breathe. I've been in a hospital bed and not
moving for a week. For me to go and to
Sam's Club for five minutes, probably it was it was
(12:27):
such freedom. And now you know, I go home and
it's not a big deal. You know, I can sit
back at home and not have to worry. My days
are going to be My trips are going to be doctored. Uh.
You know, labs today, doctor tomorrow, labs tomorrow, doctor the
next day. That's what everything is planned to, you know,
(12:49):
try to make sure whatever happened before doesn't happen again.
Like my my buddy Roger said, I said, well, they
just basically fixed my flat and put me on the road.
He said, they didn't flick fix your flat. He's a doctor,
he said, they just put air in it. You still
have a hole in your tire. You're going to figure
out where that holds.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Well, that's what I was going to say. So do
you know, like at this point, do we know do
we know what it is? Like what I mean unless
you don't want to say, obviously, Wes, if you know
and you don't want to say, that's the thing.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Is, it's very it's very frustrating. It's very frustrating. And
I'm I'm counting on doctors and I'm putting them out
there doctor Manaharan, doctor Rlik and uh doctor maas Is.
You guys all have to get on the ball and
figure this stuff out because if you do, you're my heroes.
If you don't, well I just put your name out there.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Do they give you?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
And Wes obviously like like like the cap said, and
Ted said, and and you mentioned your health is first
and foremost right, but do you I also I also
know you as a person, and I know if there's
anywhere you would want to be, it is sitting in
that arena for the for the run. And that's obviously
a good goal, right you want to have something to
(14:02):
push yourself towards.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Do you do? I'm trying to get there. If my voice,
if my voice comes back one hundercent, it's getting very
close in physically, I'll be there. If I have to
use a walker, if I have to use a scooter,
whatever I have to do to get myself into that position,
to get behind that mic, to start announcing goals for
the grade eight, I will do it. You know, you,
(14:27):
you and I are very similar in one way. We're
not going to stop until we get the job done,
no matter what it takes. And that maybe that's what
put me in this position to begin with. That I
was burning the candle at both ends and you know,
doing work and freelance and charity and cats and everything
I could do. But you know what, that's who I am. Hey,
(14:48):
that's who I am. I just need to make sure
that I don't die doing it.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Hey, let me ask you this.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
The you were talking about how you know, like seeing
all the love online and and you know the beauty
of you is it's I mean, obviously we know you
from the caps, but like you mentioned, you know, video
games and charity work and stuff, it really must be
nice not just for you but also like your family
and everybody and and and to sit back and go
(15:17):
I can't like, look at this, look at this.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I'd like it.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
It's got to feel humbling, but overwhelming and filled with love.
It's got to be such a wonderful feeling.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
It is hugely overwhelming, and it is a wonderful feeling.
And my family members, it really helped support them and
buffet them up. Of everybody who reached out to my wife, Kim,
I can't thank them enough because you know, when she
begs you not to go, and you go anyway, and
she knows this is going to happen, and she thinks
she's lost you, and they basically tell her that you're gone.
(15:57):
She's contemplating life by yourself. Sure, so part of that
is probably looking pretty good. You know, she's gotten kind
of used to having me around, and I'm it's it's
bizarre to even be able to sit here and talk
to you like this, Elliott, after everything that happened.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Hey, Wes, how's your son?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
All three of them are good. My three boys are good.
And one of them came down and spent the whole
time me and one of them was in school and
couldn't but was the one who called and saved me
with the security guys. And my other son called from
California and talked to me while I was in a coma.
From what I understand, it's always easiest to talk to
(16:42):
me when I'm in a coma.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Wes is back hey, by the way, by the way,
I just I just want to say this, Wes and
and and like we you know, we talked about the
GoFundMe that was up and all of that. I was
asking people to tag it at e I tm on
just so you knew that that that our listeners were helping.
But can you talk to somebody at gofund me. They
(17:06):
wouldn't let people tag them. There was something wrong with
the tagging.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Really well, there's the whole thing is it's fairly fluky
most of the time. You gotta you know, it's like
one of those old pieces of equipment you gotta keep
smacking on that.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I just wanted you to know we were there, but
I just felt like maybe you didn't know.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Well, I you know what, I appreciate that you're there.
There were so many folks and people mentioned that where
they heard it, you know, and uh, they don't necessarily
hashtag it, but they mentioned yeah, but they should, you know,
they should, they should let you a hash But I'm grateful.
I'm grateful to everybody who donated and contributed the doctors
(17:48):
and medical bills. They don't do this stuff on the cheap.
It's like gonna be something we pay off for the
rest of our lives. But this is gonna like help
so very much, and it's also going to help a
bit over the next week or two because the only
thing I'm going to do work wise, Elliott pretty much
(18:11):
is the caps when I get a chance to go
back and do it. Otherwise, what I'm doing at home
is I'm resting, I'm doing physical therapy right, I'm learning
to I'm learning to remove again. When you can't just
get up and walk across the room like you used to, Ah, boy,
that changes things.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah, I can't imagine a lot. I can't imagine.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Well, they tell me it's going to come back. They
tell me that for in the intensive care unit, every
day you spend there could be about a week to
three weeks of rehab to get your muscle degradation back.
When I first stood up after five days of being
intubated and they let me finally get on my feet
to try to walk, I got dizzy and could barely move.
(18:58):
People had to help me around like I was ninety
seven years old. And it's getting better every day. I'm
able to get up, I'm able to move, I'm able
to do things. This time next week, it'll be one
hundred percent better, because one hundred percent better than it
was four days ago. But you got to keep moving,
keep stretching, keep that body going. My old body here.
(19:22):
I remember the days, Elliott, when you used to have
an old beater car, right, your body was in great condition.
Well now I've got a great car. But my body
is the old beater.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
It's the pos Hey, wes what I traded.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I don't know. It's whether I kind of like heated seats,
you know what I'm saying. But I I'm happy to
say that if I work at it, and I keep
the exercise, and I do what I'm supposed to do,
I will bounce back. Doctors telling me I'll be back
one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Hey, when they when they take you from the from
the hotel, do they just like cut all your clothing
off and everything just to when when they get you
to the hospital.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Thank god, they stripped some things off because I was
wearing some collectible things.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I thought you were gonna say you crapped your pants.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
They know they did cut my underwear off, so I guess.
And the fact of the matter is, for like six
seven days, eight days, I'm talking to people wearing no
pants whatsoever. It's not as freeing after a while as
you would think.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Well, listen, it's great to hear from you, Wes.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
It really is. And I can't wait. And obviously no rush,
but I can't. I can't wait to hear you back
in the arena again, my friend.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Well, if I'm out there, if I get back there,
the sooner the better for me. Yes. But if I
get back there, I may not be moving as quickly.
But the fact of the matter is I'm ready to
unleash some freaking fury man, because I am alive. This
season is alive. I'm happy. I love this world, and
until I get crabby about it again, I want to rock.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Good deal, Hey, Wes, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Love your brother, Love you two fellas. You got him
for everything
Hey, how you doing, Elliott?
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am better than you.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hey, well, actually, you know what, Life is pretty good
right now, Elliott. Life is pretty good because there is life,
so that's important.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So wes back me up a little bit.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I mean, we saw a little bit of the of
the obviously we saw the post online and you were
down in Atlanta and you were doing a you were doing.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Like a like a fundraiser, voicing a fundraiser.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
And then next thing, next thing we hear is that
you know nobody, nobody can find you.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
So what like, what is the last thing you remember?
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Last thing I remember is getting off the airplane, being exhausted,
going to the hotel, went to the hotel, crash, just
went right to say, didn't even undress, just lay down
in the bed and went to sleep. Woke up at
about four in the morning. I was supposed to go
to the Alzheimer's Association. I was doing a big m
seeing the thing, speaking for the national thing, and I
(01:02):
thought I was there a day early. I thought I
just go say hello, and then I was like, no,
I'm too exhausted. Fourth in the morning, I sent a
text to my wife saying sorry I slept through the day.
Uh and evidently looked at it later it was full
of typos, went back to sleep. She tried to call
me all next day.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So at four in the morning, so not answering, we
was it's four in the morning.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
You send you send a garbled text if you will
to your wife, and then you went You went back
to bed or were you out?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
You know what I mean like, did you intentionally go
back to bed?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
I never I never got out of bed. I opened
my eyes, I realized what time it was. I grabbed
my phone. I texted my wife. I went right back.
I closed my eyes and went right back to sleep
right And as far as I was concerned, I was just,
you know, gonna recharge, catch up, you know, then go
(01:56):
do this big function. Evidently, because I was on this airplane,
I was dehydrated, I had there were issues that started
going on with all my internal organs. Whether it was
something I'd eaten, whether it's some internal bacteria, whether it
was had something to do with my kidneys. Things started
(02:16):
shutting down. I mean, it's pretty scary because you're just
taking a nap and the next thing you know, nobody
can reach you. My wife called. Finally in the afternoon,
my son called and got security to open the door
and they found me and the words they used were
unresponsive with very little pulse. I was basically da when
(02:38):
the ambulance and the paramedics got there. Wes what got
to Emory University Hospital?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
What got to the point where?
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Like?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
What at what point in the day?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
So, like you said, four am, you send a garble tax,
you go back to bed, and then you know, next
thing you know, the security is coming in what time?
Like what triggered that something is wrong? Was it you
not showing up at the event?
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Yeah, not that I was not showing up with the event.
It's that I didn't call my wife. Here's the thing,
you know, you stay in contact with your wife, Elliott,
even though you're doing things. She'll send a note. Ever,
once a while she reaches out to you. You'll reach
out to her, you know, and she knows you're busy,
she knows you've got stuff going on. And my wife
knew that as well about me, So she leaves me
alone most of the time during these events, but she
(03:30):
knows that I will always respond to her, and for
me to not respond to her for over thirteen hours
was unusual. Wow, and so not being able to reach
anybody or reach me, or not knowing what's going on.
She was worried about me before I left. She has
never asked me not to do a job, never except
this one time. What she said, I feel you don't
(03:53):
look good today. She said, I was breathing weird. She
said I looked tired. And I said, I've got to
do this. I mean, the people at the Alzheimer's Association
are some of the best people, Elliott did you ever
want to meet? And sure, I'm so proud to be
a part of them that I did not want to
let them down. I wasn't gonna let them down. And
(04:14):
I told her, I said, I can't do that. I
made a commitment. So the thing is, you need to
listen to your wife sometimes because no.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
But all of us would have been in that boat
where if it was like, hey, like you know, hey,
you look tired, Well, of course I'm tired.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
We're all tired, you know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
And I'm not saying that to be crappy about your
wife showing that being care you know, being careful, But
I mean everybody writes that off in their head. Of
course I'm tired, you know whatever, it is. You find
a way to just go. Yeah, I'm fine, I'm going.
Everything's good. I'll take a nap when I get there.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Because we grind. That's what we do. We grind and
we keep going no matter what. And we'll sacrifice. We'll
sacrifice our bodies for the job, will sacrifice our energy,
everything we have for something. I just didn't realize I
was sacrificing everything for it.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
So they come in, security, opens the door.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
You're laying in the in the in the hot in
the hotel bed, unresponsive, with barely with barely a pulse.
I assume at that point the hotel goes crazy, starts
calling paramedics, and now the race is on.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Exactly right, exactly right, everybody. I get to do the
Dog and Pony shows. They're taking me out and everybody
stopping to see who that is. They take me to
this emergency room. They put me in a medically induced
coma elliott. I am then put on every machine. They
start doing round the clock dialysis for three days. They
(05:46):
start doing blood transfers. They're going to extraordinary efforts. They
called my wife and told her, they said, you need
to be here right now, sooner than later. I mean,
you need to get end of life protocols in place.
So everybody in my family is scared to death. Everybody's terrified.
I have no idea what's going on, and they all
(06:08):
end up. Alzheimer's Association pays for my wife and son
to fly wow to Atlanta, and they put them up
in rooms and put my family up in rooms and
they stay with me. Elliott. They send people to stay
and sit with me while I'm in a coma, and
so my family gets there. They're good people.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
How long were you? How did so you're in the
medically induced coma? How what started to improve? Where they
were like, let's now's the time, let's try to wake
wess up.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
They kept me in the koma for about two and
a half days and then they started bringing me out.
And at that point I was already intubated, which is
why my voice is a little rough. Right. I had
a big tube down my throat. I was on ten
million wires. Looked like something out of you know, science
fiction film. My family was all they talked to me
(07:04):
the first day, and everything didn't seem real. I don't
remember them. They don't they're looking at me. My son
told me later he said, I only knew that Dad
was there because at one point someone said something and
his eyebrows went up. The attack eyebrows went up, so
I knew that Dad was in there. Right. The only
thing I started remembering is when I came around. When
(07:26):
I finally came around, I got a chance to sit
there and watch the NFC Championship game. Do you know
how hard it is to watch an NFC Championship game
that your team is in when they've got you intubated
and you can't cheer.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
So but now Wes correct me if I'm wrong, I
feel like I mean, and listen, that's horrible, right. I
can't imagine your your wife and kids sitting in that
hotel or hotel excuse me, hospital room, knowing like to
get end of life affairs in order, and the how
emotionally that that has to be. But I feel like
(08:09):
the next thing we know is you've got on a
Caps jacket and like you're out of the hospital. Well,
it's amazing, I was.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
I was told the day after the championship game. The
day after that, they removed the uh, they excavated me, right,
and I was able to finally talk and I got
to tell you before then, Elliott, I was afraid I
would never talk again. You don't know if you've had
a stroke. In fact, I tried to write notes to
people and it was coming out jarbled, which is all
(08:41):
fine now the brain's rewired itself, right, But it was
I was afraid I would never talk again. Suddenly I'm
able to talk. I started bouncing back. The doctors and
nurses told me it was like miraculous. They said, we
can't believe that you are responding the way you're responding,
that you're all there. Still, there was a guy who
came in with my exact same symptoms the week before me,
(09:01):
who didn't make it. So I'm I mean, I had
to think, Elliott, that you know, my friend Bill Glasser
put together Bill Glasser and Sherroker and put together this
GoFundMe for my wife, right, and which is all in
place for like three days before I wake up. And
(09:24):
suddenly I wake up to all this, all this crazy
love online that you never knew existed, People sending you
these messages telling you what you've meant to them, and
you don't know. The caps, Elliott. The caps came through
so big, and they've been so cool. They have been
so wonderful with Kim, and you know, Alexa Eichler has
(09:48):
been wonderful dealing with Kim. And they're like, you take
your time, and you get healthy, West and when you're ready,
you come back, when you get your strength and you're
able to move and speak. Ted doing a donation as
huge as he had he did for the GoFundMe, and
some people are like, this guy should take care of you.
(10:08):
I'm not an employee, Elliott. I'm an independent contract right,
you know that's a different kind of thing. But I
have been with a team for twenty five years. Let
me tell you something. What what Ted leonss did for
me and my family is above and beyond. And I'm
blown away by it. What the Caps have done for me,
(10:29):
what Bees the game studios have done. All the different
gaming fans that have come out of the woodwork and
tell me what my characters and my work has meant
to them over their life. I mean, this has been
my George Bailey moment. You know, it's all like always
are those those pedals? You know? No? But I mean
that is normally have to actually physically die right before
(10:52):
they get to hear this kind of stuff being said
about them, and I'm you're right, Elliott. I was able
to walk out of the hospital. But the thing is,
I'm not able to walk as well as I was. Right,
I'm on a cane right now. I went the other
day with my wife to go drop off pants at
Sam's Club, and I could that was a whole thing,
(11:15):
just could barely move. I ended up getting on that cart.
You know, it's a little buzzy yeah, right, scooters which
you look at and you go ha and you scoff. Well,
let me tell you when you're walking in with a
cane real slow and you're like, slow down, everybody, Oh, please,
don't go so fast, don't do this, and then you
get on that scooter, you're like, get out of my way. Mother, mother,
(11:38):
you know.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
So, Wes, let me ask you this, what is what
is the the And by the way, I feel like, Wes,
I'm not a doctor.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Do we really have to go to Sam's Club that quickly?
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Like?
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Can't we can't?
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Can't we take a week or two before we have
to go to the Sam's We.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Could, we could, we could. But the fact of the
matter is I went out basically to go get Starbucks.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
There we stopped by it.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
You know, you know the day before that this is
a small excursion. I'm basically I'm sitting at home and
I'm doing nothing. It was it was basically so I
could breathe. I've been in a hospital bed and not
moving for a week. For me to go and to
Sam's Club for five minutes, probably it was it was
(12:27):
such freedom. And now you know, I go home and
it's not a big deal. You know, I can sit
back at home and not have to worry. My days
are going to be My trips are going to be doctored. Uh.
You know, labs today, doctor tomorrow, labs tomorrow, doctor the
next day. That's what everything is planned to, you know,
(12:49):
try to make sure whatever happened before doesn't happen again.
Like my my buddy Roger said, I said, well, they
just basically fixed my flat and put me on the road.
He said, they didn't flick fix your flat. He's a doctor,
he said, they just put air in it. You still
have a hole in your tire. You're going to figure
out where that holds.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Well, that's what I was going to say. So do
you know, like at this point, do we know do
we know what it is? Like what I mean unless
you don't want to say, obviously, Wes, if you know
and you don't want to say, that's the thing.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Is, it's very it's very frustrating. It's very frustrating. And
I'm I'm counting on doctors and I'm putting them out
there doctor Manaharan, doctor Rlik and uh doctor maas Is.
You guys all have to get on the ball and
figure this stuff out because if you do, you're my heroes.
If you don't, well I just put your name out there.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Do they give you?
Speaker 3 (13:42):
And Wes obviously like like like the cap said, and
Ted said, and and you mentioned your health is first
and foremost right, but do you I also I also
know you as a person, and I know if there's
anywhere you would want to be, it is sitting in
that arena for the for the run. And that's obviously
a good goal, right you want to have something to
(14:02):
push yourself towards.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Do you do? I'm trying to get there. If my voice,
if my voice comes back one hundercent, it's getting very
close in physically, I'll be there. If I have to
use a walker, if I have to use a scooter,
whatever I have to do to get myself into that position,
to get behind that mic, to start announcing goals for
the grade eight, I will do it. You know, you,
(14:27):
you and I are very similar in one way. We're
not going to stop until we get the job done,
no matter what it takes. And that maybe that's what
put me in this position to begin with. That I
was burning the candle at both ends and you know,
doing work and freelance and charity and cats and everything
I could do. But you know what, that's who I am. Hey,
(14:48):
that's who I am. I just need to make sure
that I don't die doing it.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Hey, let me ask you this.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
The you were talking about how you know, like seeing
all the love online and and you know the beauty
of you is it's I mean, obviously we know you
from the caps, but like you mentioned, you know, video
games and charity work and stuff, it really must be
nice not just for you but also like your family
and everybody and and and to sit back and go
(15:17):
I can't like, look at this, look at this.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I'd like it.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
It's got to feel humbling, but overwhelming and filled with love.
It's got to be such a wonderful feeling.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
It is hugely overwhelming, and it is a wonderful feeling.
And my family members, it really helped support them and
buffet them up. Of everybody who reached out to my wife, Kim,
I can't thank them enough because you know, when she
begs you not to go, and you go anyway, and
she knows this is going to happen, and she thinks
she's lost you, and they basically tell her that you're gone.
(15:57):
She's contemplating life by yourself. Sure, so part of that
is probably looking pretty good. You know, she's gotten kind
of used to having me around, and I'm it's it's
bizarre to even be able to sit here and talk
to you like this, Elliott, after everything that happened.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Hey, Wes, how's your son?
Speaker 1 (16:21):
All three of them are good. My three boys are good.
And one of them came down and spent the whole
time me and one of them was in school and
couldn't but was the one who called and saved me
with the security guys. And my other son called from
California and talked to me while I was in a coma.
From what I understand, it's always easiest to talk to
(16:42):
me when I'm in a coma.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
Wes is back hey, by the way, by the way,
I just I just want to say this, Wes and
and and like we you know, we talked about the
GoFundMe that was up and all of that. I was
asking people to tag it at e I tm on
just so you knew that that that our listeners were helping.
But can you talk to somebody at gofund me. They
(17:06):
wouldn't let people tag them. There was something wrong with
the tagging.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Really well, there's the whole thing is it's fairly fluky
most of the time. You gotta you know, it's like
one of those old pieces of equipment you gotta keep
smacking on that.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I just wanted you to know we were there, but
I just felt like maybe you didn't know.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Well, I you know what, I appreciate that you're there.
There were so many folks and people mentioned that where
they heard it, you know, and uh, they don't necessarily
hashtag it, but they mentioned yeah, but they should, you know,
they should, they should let you a hash But I'm grateful.
I'm grateful to everybody who donated and contributed the doctors
(17:48):
and medical bills. They don't do this stuff on the cheap.
It's like gonna be something we pay off for the
rest of our lives. But this is gonna like help
so very much, and it's also going to help a
bit over the next week or two because the only
thing I'm going to do work wise, Elliott pretty much
(18:11):
is the caps when I get a chance to go
back and do it. Otherwise, what I'm doing at home
is I'm resting, I'm doing physical therapy right, I'm learning
to I'm learning to remove again. When you can't just
get up and walk across the room like you used to, Ah, boy,
that changes things.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yeah, I can't imagine a lot. I can't imagine.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Well, they tell me it's going to come back. They
tell me that for in the intensive care unit, every
day you spend there could be about a week to
three weeks of rehab to get your muscle degradation back.
When I first stood up after five days of being
intubated and they let me finally get on my feet
to try to walk, I got dizzy and could barely move.
(18:58):
People had to help me around like I was ninety
seven years old. And it's getting better every day. I'm
able to get up, I'm able to move, I'm able
to do things. This time next week, it'll be one
hundred percent better, because one hundred percent better than it
was four days ago. But you got to keep moving,
keep stretching, keep that body going. My old body here.
(19:22):
I remember the days, Elliott, when you used to have
an old beater car, right, your body was in great condition.
Well now I've got a great car. But my body
is the old beater.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
It's the pos Hey, wes what I traded.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I don't know. It's whether I kind of like heated seats,
you know what I'm saying. But I I'm happy to
say that if I work at it, and I keep
the exercise, and I do what I'm supposed to do,
I will bounce back. Doctors telling me I'll be back
one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Hey, when they when they take you from the from
the hotel, do they just like cut all your clothing
off and everything just to when when they get you
to the hospital.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Thank god, they stripped some things off because I was
wearing some collectible things.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
I thought you were gonna say you crapped your pants.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
They know they did cut my underwear off, so I guess.
And the fact of the matter is, for like six
seven days, eight days, I'm talking to people wearing no
pants whatsoever. It's not as freeing after a while as
you would think.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Well, listen, it's great to hear from you, Wes.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
It really is. And I can't wait. And obviously no rush,
but I can't. I can't wait to hear you back
in the arena again, my friend.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
Well, if I'm out there, if I get back there,
the sooner the better for me. Yes. But if I
get back there, I may not be moving as quickly.
But the fact of the matter is I'm ready to
unleash some freaking fury man, because I am alive. This
season is alive. I'm happy. I love this world, and
until I get crabby about it again, I want to rock.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Good deal, Hey, Wes, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
Love your brother, Love you two fellas. You got him
for everything
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