Bam Margera Was Much Closer To Death Than We Thought

Reports that Bam Margera was hospitalized in December didn’t explain just how close to death the “Jackass” star came. But now the daredevil is giving the full story in his own words. To usher in the new millennium in grand fashion, MTV debuted a show in October 2000 that remains as culturally relevant and hilarious as ever: “Jackass.” If you’re somehow unfamiliar with the series, it featured a group of stuntmen and old friends doing pranks to each other and attempting wild stunts. To say it became a hit would be an understatement Some of the original stars of the

show, including Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O, have stayed in the public eye and kept the legacy of “Jackass” alive. But that hasn’t been true for the entirety of the original crew. For one, there’s Bam Margera, who has lived a roller coaster life since the now-iconic MTV series first gained prominence. Margera has found himself in some terrifying and rather unsavory situations, including drama with some of his “Jackass” co-stars, Knoxville among them. Nevertheless, he’s managed to power through and live to tell his story all these years later. But Margera revealed he recently came very close to death. On

January 5, 2023, Margera stopped by the “Steve-O’s Wild Ride!” podcast to commemorate the end of his conservatorship. Before he could get to that, though, he had a scary story from the previous month to share with listeners. Right out of

the gate, he shared the news of his own “death.” “I basically was pronounced dead on Elvis’ birthday, December 8.” Margera didn’t realize it, but he’d been dealing with an extreme case of COVID-19. He added that his body started shutting down and he had four seizures, each of which lasted between 10 and 20 minutes. The fourth was

so bad that he says he nearly bit off his tongue. Margera’s tongue became swollen and began bleeding. Margera then swallowed the blood, which, in turn, resulted in him contracting pneumonia. Worse yet, on his way to the hospital, he went into a fifth seizure. With his swollen tongue, he couldn’t breathe. When he finally came into the hospital, he thought he’d only been there for a few hours, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. Shortly after waking up, he remembered being told, “Like, ‘Dude, you’ve been here for nearly a week. We tried to take the tube out,

but you weren’t breathing on your own.” Thankfully, eight days after being admitted to the hospital, Margera made a full recovery and was released. News outlets picked up on the story almost immediately. Steve-O mentioned that after hearing about it on the news and seeing Margera on a ventilator, he assumed the worst was right around the corner. “I’m just thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is it.'” While Margera was in the hospital, Steve-O joked that if his friend didn’t make it through, that would throw a serious wrench into his tour plans. Some fans loved the “Jackass”-style gallows humor;

others didn’t. Steve-O made sure to clarify that Margera’s recovery was the top priority. Margera chimed in with a laugh and compared his newly raspy voice, thanks to the breathing tube, to that of Steve-O. Margera doesn’t remember much of what happened to him prior to waking up in the hospital, saying that he essentially blacked out until he opened his eyes in the hospital bed. It’s safe to assume he didn’t miss a whole lot throughout his lengthy hospital stay. As if the past few years haven’t shown it already, COVID-19 is no joke and is more than capable

of killing at a moment’s notice. It’s good to hear that Bam Margera was able to recover from the deadly disease.