Colt Ford suffered a near-fatal heart attack in April 2024 after a show at Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row in Gilbert, Arizona. The Platinum-selling artist spent eight days in a coma and barely clung to life throughout the ordeal. After coming out of the coma, he had to regain his strength and learn to walk again. Earlier this month, Ford returned with a new single called “Hell Out of It” and a new lease on life. He plans to push forward as much as his health will allow.
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Earlier this month, Ford sat down with American Songwriter to discuss his latest single and the heart attack that changed his life. During the conversation, he shared a health update and explained how everything worked out in his favor.
Colt Ford on His Current Health
Colt Ford has been on a long road to recovery since coming out of his coma last year. Earlier this month, he revealed where he is on that long road.
“Physically, I’m starting to feel really good. I’m in the best shape I’ve been in a long time,” Ford said. While his physical health is on the mend and he’s regaining his strength and losing weight, his mental health suffered. “It certainly affected me mentally, a ton. It did a number on me mentally. It’s so weird because I don’t remember anything,” he explained. “I don’t remember riding out there on the bus or playing the sold-out show. I just woke up eight days late like, ‘What’s going on?’ To not remember anything and lose all that time is just so weird,” he added.
A Near-Death Experience
Ford didn’t initially know how close to death he came. “It took about a month for them to tell me everything and for me to sort everything out. It was bad. I died twice,” Ford recalled. “They put me on ECMO which is the final hail Mary,” he added. ECMO or Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation is used as a form of life support for those with failing heart or lungs. It keeps blood moving through the body and balances important blood gases. However, it is a risky treatment. As a result, medical professionals see it as a last-ditch effort to save patients’ lives.
“The doctor told me I was one percent of one percent. He told me he had no idea how I survived. He said ‘You’re doing ECMO. You could be 35 years old and in good shape and can’t survive ECMO.’ At the time, I was 54 and not in the greatest shape,” Ford said. “He was like, ‘I can measure everything about you except for your desire to live. You must have more to do because I have no idea how you survived.’”
Ford said the ordeal was an eye-opener. “It changed my perspective on life and a lot of things.”
Everything Worked Out Perfectly for Colt Ford
If Colt Ford and his team had gone through their normal post-show routine, he would have died on his tour bus. Fortunately, though, it wasn’t a normal night. “Everything worked out perfectly for me,” he said of that fateful evening.
“I’m old and I don’t care about partying. Normally, when I get done with a show I go back to my bus, go to my bedroom in the back, shut my door, call my wife, take a shower, and watch Dateline or something,” he explained.
“That night, I walked back to my bus and took my ears off, and sat down in the front lounge. If I go to the back and shut my door, the guys don’t bother me. They know I’m done for the night. If I had done that, they would have found me the next day dead in Vegas,” he revealed.
However, that wasn’t the only life-saving anomaly that took place that night. “It was hot and my bass player decided to bring me a Gatorade. That’s not normal,” Ford said. “When he got on the bus, I was in the front lounge and I had already fallen out,” he recalled. “If he didn’t decide to do that, it would have been all she wrote,” he added.
“If it happened two days later, I had a show with Chris Janson at Lake Havasu. That would have been a two-hour life flight to the hospital. I wouldn’t have made it. If any other scenario played out, I would have been dead.”
Featured Image by Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images
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