When Hall of Famer Mike Ditka suffered a heart attack in November, the first word of his condition described it as “mild.”
Ditka, as you might imagine, had some different words for it.
The legendary Bears coach and tight end told Dan Pompei of The Athletic that “massive” would be a more honest description, after doctors placed four stents and a pacemaker in there, and he spent a week and a half in the hospital.
“I got my ass kicked pretty good there, but I’m feeling a lot better,” Ditka said. “Every day I get stronger. I’m not exerting myself. When I exert myself is when I can feel it. So things are good. If you had asked me two weeks ago, I couldn’t have said that.”
The 79-year-old Ditka was on the golf course when the heart attack hit, and he said he didn’t remember much of the particulars. But he was fortunate his playing partners rushed him to the clubhouse and into an ambulance, and he was at a hospital in Naples, Fla., quickly. He’s begun his rehabilitation, and admitted there are limitations he’s going to have to accept.
“I’m just going to take it easy,” he said. “I realize that I have been riding ‘em hard and putting up wet for a lot of years. Time to slow down. I’m not getting any younger. You’re only going to live ‘til you die anyway. So it’s been a hell of a run.
“You always think it’s not going to happen to me until it happens to you. And then there is nothing you can do about it because it just kicks your butt so bad. You know, the greatest gift we have from God is life. But life without health is not worth a darn.”
He’s also enjoying watching his old team exceed every preseason expectation, and the kind of fun they’re having is reminiscent of the Bears during their heyday when Ditka was coaching. That has to be good medicine for Ditka, as he continues to recover.
