Whoopi Goldberg reveals that she had a major health scare that nearly led to her death.
The Ghost actress took almost a month off from “The View” in February to focus on her health and revealed a month later that she came “very close to leaving the Earth” after developing double pneumonia, a life-threatening infection that inflames the air sacs in one or both lungs, and sepsis, an infection in the blood.
On Monday, May 20, 2019, the Hollywood legend was joined on the program by her physician Jorge Rodriguez and pulmonologist Martin Greenberg, who both revealed just how critical Goldberg’s condition was.
Greenberg said: “She had a chance of dying of 30 percent, 1 in 3.”
Rodriguez said: “She was gasping for air, she couldn’t breathe.
“Her teeth were chattering, she was obviously in what we call rigors [uncontrollable shivers].”
He added how he was scared that she was giving him “clues” when she said she was “tired” and so he wanted to keep the 63-year-old actress awake and talking.
He said: “I was afraid she wasn’t going to wake up.
“Because you don’t know if someone … when they give you those clues, is she really now just tired, or is she going to become unconscious and this is it?
“So I wanted her talking … that’s how serious it was.”
Her pulmonologist had originally rated her survival chances at 70 percent but soon realized she was “in a bad way.”
He concluded: “She was in a bad way. It was all hands on deck.
“She had a high fever, she was short of breath, very rapid heart rate, and a low oxygen level — which is not a good sign.”
The Sister Act star admitted that she now realizes just how “serious” pneumonia is and how she will no longer just “fight through” her illnesses for her ego’s sake.
She said: “The crazy thing is people don’t take this seriously.
“They don’t take pneumonia seriously, and you have to.
“And this idea that we can fight through everything, ’cause that was my problem.
“I get a cold and I just … I don’t take stuff. I just fight through it. And you can’t do that.
“It will kill you. Inactivity, not doing anything, not checking, will kill you.
“So get your ego together and say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to the doctor because I don’t feel good.’
“It’s okay to go to the doctor because you don’t feel good. Because you’d rather be alive b—-ing about it than dead.”
Goldberg admitted her health scare was a huge wake-up call, and she has cut back her hectic working schedule to look after herself properly.
She added: “I slowed it down because you don’t want to relapse. I don’t ever want to do this again.
“I didn’t like it. This is what happens when you don’t take care of yourself.”
