Megachurch pastor Bishop T.D. Jakes has shared new details about the medical emergency he experienced while preaching last November.
In an interview with Today’s Craig Melvin, the 67-year-old pastor revealed that he didn’t realise what was happening until he was in the hospital.
"I didn’t really realise what was happening to me on stage until I got to the hospital and in an ambulance," he said. "Then the doctor leaned over in my ear and said that 'you’ve had a massive heart attack.'"
Video footage from the service shows Jakes pausing and shaking before his wife and staff rushed to his side to pray. The broadcast was immediately stopped, and several people could be seen attending to him.
The pastor was shocked to learn he had suffered a heart attack, as he hadn’t experienced any of the usual symptoms.
Earlier this year, Jakes told his congregation: "They say I had a stroke. They say I died. They said I wouldn’t be back."
In the interview, Jakes further explained that the right side of his heart had stopped receiving blood. "As long as I was up preaching, I felt fine," he recalled. "But when I sat down, the adrenaline dropped, and it exposed the fact that I was preaching with half my heart closed, through a clot."
Reflecting on his near-death experience, he added: "I was in a quiet, peaceful, serene, white-enveloped, cloud-enveloped place. I was on my way out."
Jakes returned to the pulpit in January and thanked the global community for their prayers. "I had my whole church praying... People everywhere sending prayers," he said. "While they were praying, the surgeons were operating while I was awake. They never put me to sleep."
