This ‘Blessed’ Country Star Clinically Died Twice Before God Brought Him Back
By Movieguide® Contributor
Country star Colt Ford is crediting God for giving him another chance at life after he clinically died twice from a heart attack last April.
He was in Phoenix and about to do a concert when the attack struck. He died twice on the way to the hospital, where he stayed in a coma for eight days. When he woke up, he understood his experience as a sign from God.
“God just told me, I need to sit down and pay attention to what’s going on around me,” the 54-year-old told Fox. “And I think try to use it for…something as positive as I can…no matter what it is, I’m meant to have that second chance. That just doesn’t happen. You know?”
“It is such a gift,” he continued. “I realize how precious some things are now, and it makes me focus a little bit differently.”
Colt now tries to be more conscious of what he eats and how much.
“Wow. It’s been pretty profound, for sure… It just makes you realize some of the things you think are important or that maybe you were chasing as a younger man or a younger person…they’re not really that important,” he said.
“I’ve always been…an alpha male kind of guy. And all of a sudden, I wake up out of a coma and I can’t even feed myself ice out of a Styrofoam cup…It’s very humbling,” he said.
The star says he can’t remember going to Arizona for the show.
“I walked back to the bus, texted my fiancée, ‘Hi baby,’ and fell over dead. I died two times. Luckily, my band came out to check on me…All of a sudden, that’s when all hell broke loose,” he said.
READ MORE: COUNTRY STAR MAKES LIFE CHANGES AFTER HEART ATTACK: ‘GOD HAS MORE’
Fox asked Ford if he had health issues that led to the attack.
He said “it was kind of a perfect storm for me” and had been working toward losing weight. Three years ago, he discovered he had myasthenia gravis, which causes muscle weakness. He says it threw him into a “big medical loop.”
“That myostatin, it really messed up my vision and caused a lot of fatigue,” he said.
The medicine helps regulate muscle mass, but the side effects took a toll on Ford.
“I just started getting that under control.” After the heart attack, he started to get his diet under control and broke his habit of drinking Mountain Dew.
“I’m from Georgia…We fry things, we put butter on it, we put gravy on it…I’d love to eat my mama’s cubed steak and rice and gravy and mac and cheese. I love all that stuff. And, I loved Zaxby’s and fried chicken…burgers. That’s what I ate on the road, too.”
“I broke the cravings for a lot of that stuff…I don’t want to go eat it,” he said.
Now he eats grilled meats instead of fried and chooses water and unsweet tea instead of soda. He’s lost 60 lbs since last April.
“I’m on the treadmill a lot and trying to get into some yoga and Pilates,” the singer laughed.
“I’m working on all that and just trying to get my strength…it’s a lot of getting your strength back and your balance…but it’s OK. I’m fighting through it. I’m still here. I’m still blessed,” he said.
The star released his first song since the accident on Feb. 21.
“It was a song written by some great friends of mine, Cole Taylor and Michael Tyler…I loved the song instantly when Cole sent it to me. But then after this, it took on a whole different meaning,” Ford said, referring his heart attack. “It was already like you knew what the song meant, but for me, it just changed everything.”
The song speaks of love for country towns and peaceful life.
Of the meaning, Ford said, “I’m trying to make things simpler…get back to the basic stuff. Just being a good human being, being a good steward of the Earth.”
READ MORE: COUNTRY SINGER COLT FORD DESCRIBES TRAUMATIC HEART ATTACK: ‘LORD HAD MORE FOR ME’
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