EXCLUSIVE: Bob Harper On His Near-Fatal Heart Attack: I was NOT Supposed to Die That Day

On February 12, 2017, health and fitness expert Bob Harper was working out at a gym when he suddenly went into cardiac arrest. His chance of survival was only SIX percent.

“I pretty much died. This has always been the place that I love coming to and now I'm kind of afraid. That's not something I'm used to feeling, especially here" Bob said through tears.

He says before his heart attack, he had dizzy spells but chose to overlook them.

“That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” says Bob. “The thing that really frustrates me is that I really wasn’t listening to my body, and that’s something that I’ve told people to do for as long as I’ve been a trainer.”

Neurologist Hazem Shoirah happened to be at the gym for a charity event on another floor when Bob’s heart attack hit.

“I raced downstairs and I saw you on the floor with another person already administering chest compressions,” says Dr. Shoirah. “The fact that he was already blue, there was a lot of uncertainty about whether he would make it or not.”

Thanks to life-saving procedures performed by Dr. Shoirah and others, Bob lived! The wildest part about this story is it was Dr. Shoirah’s first time ever being at that gym.

“I was not supposed to die that day,” says Bob. “I was NOT supposed to die.”

One of the reasons he’s alive today is because the gym he happened to be working in had an AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) machine in it.

"I will never ever set foot into a gym that doesn't have an AED [machine], that doesn't have people who are certified in CPR because that's what saved my life," says Bob.

Bob Shares What It Was Like to Wake up in the Hospital After His Near-Fatal Experience

Bob Harper Shares What It Was Like to Wake up in the Hospital After His Near-Fatal Experience

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Because Bob had been without oxygen for a long period of time, he was placed into a coma for two days.

“I came out of [the coma] with pneumonia,” says Bob. “The CPR they had performed on me -- my chest was so sore for a month… it was so painful!”

“I woke up… and my family was there, all my best friends from Los Angeles and I was literally just like what are you guys doing here?”

His best friend Karl even came to keep him company!
 

Watch the video above to hear the hilarious moment his friends and family knew he was going to be JUST fine.

How Bob’s Doing Now

How Bob Harper’s Doing Now

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“I’m feeling really good,” says Bob. “When I first got out, all they told me to do was just walk, and just walking around the block in my neighborhood was really difficult.”

But he’s been following doctor’s orders and says he’s been getting stronger every day. He’s even moved on to a new vegetarian(ish) Mediterranean-style diet -- click here to learn all about it!

We love you, Bob!