Better Call Saul actor Bob Odenkirk took to Twitter on the one-year anniversary of his “heart incident”.
Reflecting on his health scare, the Breaking Bad star shared a message of thanks for his second chance at life.
“A Thank You to you, whoever you are,” he said.
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“A year ago today I briefly flirted with ‘quietus’ and this elicited a wave of goodwill and warmth towards me. I will forever feel unworthy of it.
“I will also always be appreciative and look to pass it on. Thank you. No reply necessary.”
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Odenkirk collapsed on the Better Call Saul set having suffered a heart attack filming the Breaking Bad prequel’s final episodes in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last July.
During an appearance on the US Today show, he recalled the traumatic day.
“My widow-maker artery was completely blocked,” Odenkirk explained.
“That’s why it’s called the ‘widow-maker’, because you die when that happens. But I went down. And I was very lucky that my co-stars, Rhea Seehorn and Patrick Fabian, were right nearby.”
Odenkirk said the incident “traumatised” Seehorn and Fabian, who immediately rushed over and raised the alarm when he collapsed, before the show’s health officer Rosa Estrada began CPR on him.
“They came out and did CPR properly right away, broke my ribs like you’re supposed to and carried on until the ambulance arrived,” the actor explained to Willie Geist.
“And also, Rosa had an AED device, which is a defibrillator, in her car. So because she had that, she was able to go get it and it took only three tries.”
Odenkirk was hospitalised for a week, confirming on social media on August 7 that he had “a small heart attack” but reassured fans he was feeling better.
“I would say that the cast and crew were more traumatised than me, because I have a blank space where I had this heart attack,” the 59-year-old told People at the final season’s premiere in April.
“I don’t remember the day it happened or the next week and a half. They all were standing right there. And they watched me go down, and they watched them use the defibrillator three times on me, and they watched the professionals around look at each other and say he’s not coming back.”
He added that he was later traumatised when hearing others recall what went on that day.
The actor told The New York Times in an interview, doctors knew of plaque build up in his arteries but couldn’t agree on how to treat it.
“I’d known since 2018 that I had this plaque buildup in my heart,” he said.
“I went to two heart doctors at Cedars-Sinai, and I had dye and an MRI and all that stuff, and the doctors disagreed.”
Now, the actor is continuing to talk about his experiences and raise awareness.
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