Paul Archuleta/Getty ImagesJason Gray-Stanford says he feels "lucky" to be alive after a battle with heart failure.
In a personal essay published by Today on Feb. 25, the Monk alum detailed the harrowing experience and how he "likely could have only lived a few more weeks" if he had not received a heart transplant in November 2020. According to the 51-year-old, the entire ordeal first began in 2018, when he noticed that his heart was "beating oddly" while filming in Vancouver, Canada, and went to the emergency room for treatment.
Shortly after, Jason was diagnosed with a blood clot and stage 1 heart failure, a condition that occurs when the heart is not pumping blood as well as it should. "I grappled with the diagnosis and also denied it," he recalled, noting that he immediately started medication. "It felt impossible that I was so sick."
Although Jason said his health "remained stable" for a while due to the medicine, things took a turn in December 2019 when he blacked out in the middle of a spin class.
"One moment I was pedaling with everyone else; the next I woke up on the floor with the entire class peering down at me," he said. "I was terrified. How could I lose so much time? Why did I end up on the floor? Suddenly, I was being rushed to the hospital."
Describing the situation as "grave," Jason soon learned that his kidneys and liver were failing because his heart wasn't pumping enough blood throughout his body. Despite being given stronger medication, the actor's health continued to decline and he landed back at the hospital in November 2020. This time, he said, doctors told him that his "only option" was a heart transplant.
"This was a lot to process. In my mind, I still wasn't that sick, even though I knew I was struggling," he remembered. "But if I went home and my kidneys failed, I would no longer qualify for a heart transplant. People have to have a certain level of health to receive a transplant and having multiple organs failing might make me too unhealthy."
Just as Jason was thinking on the difficult decision at the hospital, a heart with a 95 percent match miraculously arrived and he was able to undergo an immediate transplant. "While I felt numb at the time, in hindsight I realize how lucky I am," he said. "All of the stars aligned so that this very heart was available right when I needed it."
These days, Jason is feeling much healthier and "grateful for the new heart beating in my chest, working better than my old one."
And while he now lives life with a scar across his chest from the surgery, he says he wears it "as a badge of honor."
"It reminds me how close to death I was," he added, "how far I came and how grateful I am."