Congratulations, you got married since I saw you last.
Your wife is in the audience.
Yeah,there she is.
Hi.
OK, so you played for the Philadelphia Eagles.
You were traded to the New Orleans Saints.
Which of course, I was excited about.
Were you sad or were you happy to be traded to the Saints?
Well, so the organization came to me
and said they wanted to make a change.
Which, that's the nature of the beast.
So I was like, hey, it is what it is, and just let me know.
And they said the New Orleans Saints want to trade
and they offered a draft pick.
And I'm not making this up.
First thing I thought of is, wait,
that's Ellen's favorite team.
And then I said, hold on, she's got
a Drew Brees Jersey over there.
Which then means maybe Drew and I can do a piece for Ellen.
I was like--
It's a win-win.
--hey let's do this.
It's time, yeah, it's time.
And so, OK, so I was excited to hear that.
So then you get a physical.
You get a physical when you start a new team like that.
And tell everyone what happened.
So I played in the preseason game.
And the day after that, I finished my physical.
And the New Orleans Saints doctor
put a stethoscope to my back.
I took three breaths.
And he said, you a heart murmur, but it's not good.
And so we're going to send you to the hospital.
And you're going to get an echocardiogram.
And, I'll be honest with you, I was like, all right,
we're good.
Let's do this, right?
So I get to the hospital and I take my test.
I go back to the facility.
I'm going to wait a few hours.
And I was sitting in the locker room before practice.
I get a call.
I answer it and it was a surgeon and the cardiologist
and they said hey, we don't really know how to say this,
but long story short, you're never playing football ever
again.
And you're going to be in emergency heart surgery pretty
quick.
So we're going to have you come back back down here and take
a few more tests.
Basically, what I had is, as my heart was pumping blood out,
a lot of blood was leaking back in.
So it was working really hard.
And right above that, you have an aorta, which is,
in layman's terms, it's the vein that
pumps all the blood around.
Well that was expanding like a water balloon.
And so your aorta should be about that big.
And mine was the size of coke can.
And they basically told me, you know,
had you been hit in the chest on Monday Night Football,
the odds were far greater that you would die than live.
And so I said, holy cow, so my wife and I,
we got on the phone.
We talked to surgeons all over the country.
And somehow their road, their path all
started with Dr. Bavaria at the University of Penn
hospital learning this procedure.
And so we chose Philadelphia.
And there you go.
OK.
And this happened--
How many weeks ago did you have open heart surgery?
I think we're at 6 1/2, seven weeks ago.
Yeah.
I mean, all right, so, you're--
you're just an incredibly inspiring human being
and positive all the time.
Your life is a crazy story.
And you're so positive all the time.
And there's this story about a penny.
You have to tell the story.
You're going to make me cry.
So, when I was a kid I lost my Mom.
And my aunt and my grandmother raised me.
They said every time that they'd find a penny,
they think of my Mom.
And so, I never find pennies.
I never find them.
I get them, you know, I get change.
And I'm the guy that always finds my pennies
and I always throw them.
And I think that my aunt or grandma or somebody
will find the penny and think of somebody they love.
So I'm in the hospital.
I get all this news.
And I find out I'm having emergency open heart surgery.
My career is over.
And I go to the elevator.
And going down-- it was the cleanest floor,
it was like your floor, it's the cleanest floor I've ever seen--
and when I hit the down button on the elevator, I looked down.
And right by my toe was a brand new penny.
And it's the only one that I picked up
and I didn't re-throw.
I kept that one.
And that's-- that's it right there.
So I took my phone out.
Nobody's going to believe this.
And sure enough, man, there it was.
Wow.
And I, you know, I believe in that right there.
Yeah.
I believe in that.
I do, too.
I absolutely do.
So not-- I want to say how did your outlook change.
But you've always been positive.
But what has shifted since this news and since the surgery?
Well, you know, I think, one, my wife keeps me going.
And two, the power of self-talk.
You know, I'd look in the mirror.
And sure enough, I would tell myself,
every day at the hospital, I'd go to the bathroom
and I'd say, hey, you're going to stand up.
You're going to hold your head high.
You're going to be proud.
And you've got this.
Because let me tell you, I was a professional athlete
on top of the world.
And part about being a professional athlete
is you kind of morph into this alter ego, if you will,
to do what you do.
And you think you're invincible.
And you find out you're not.
So get tested.
Look at your heart.
Get your kids' hearts tested.
Because if anybody thought he was perfect health-wise,
it was we.
Man far from it, so.
Yeah.
And as you told me, I think, when I texted you,
you said a Saint saved your life.
Ah, dude.
I mean really, literally, a Saint saved your life.
Yeah, yeah.
I love you.
So you have a new addition to your family
that you were boasting and bragging
about during the break.
And it's mean to say to someone whose dog does not behave well
to act like your dog is perfect.
Oh, come on, look at that little guy!
And his name is?
All right, so I got traded to New Orleans.
And I told myself that a Saint saved my life.
So my wife found this dog.
And I said, baby, that's ours.
And his name's Saint.
And you're-- so--
hold on, hold on, hold on, so--
I mean this with my whole heart.
My wife's my angel.
And that little guy right there is my Saint.
He's ador-- look at that!
Anyway, he's adorable.
I got you a gift.
First of all, I want you to come back as often as you--
I mean, listen, you got free time now.
I want you here as much as possible.
He's an amazing magician.
Which he was supposed to do a trick today,
and we ran out of time.
I want you to come back whenever you want.
You know, we're doing 12 days of giveaways.
Come back and help me with that.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
I had a gift for you.
This is for Saint.
It's made out of cards because you're a magician, see?
Get out of town.
Come on.
Yes.
So that's my stuff from PetSmart.
You can get it at PetSmart.
And this is-- because you're a magician,
it's made out of cards.
And that's Saint's--
This is the coolest thing ever.
Isn't it great?
Hold on, hold on, I want to get in this thing.
No, you can't get in there.
No, you can't.