Episode
168: The Story of Jim's Death & Rebirth (Member Interview: Jim A.)
- Podcast
- The Better Man Podcast
- Published
- Apr 3, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3446
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Summary
Today's guest, Jim (a Man Flow Yoga Member since 2018), had his life turned completely upside down shortly after he retired. He had a near-fatal heart crisis, technically died, and came back to life. Here's how it happened: Before retirement, he worked an ultra stressful job as a director of global health and safety and crisis management during both Covid and the Russia-Ukraine war. When he was offered early retirement, he took it without blinking. A few months later, he pushed himself too hard doing yard work and ended up hurting his back. This forced him to be sedentary and to pop Ibuprofen like they were candy because they were the only thing that eliminated his pain. Well, it turns out that Jim overdosed on the Ibuprofen he was taking. Something he almost completely ignored and chalked up to fatigue. Fortunately, one day after exiting the shower, he noticed red spots all over his legs - a sign of overdosing on Ibuprofen. In an attempt to dilute the Ibuprofen, he combined water with a hydrator not realizing how much sodium content hydrators contain. And so, his legs and hands started to swell to the size of balloons. Jim still wanted to tough it out and had no desire to go to the ER. But his mother forced him to go. He looked sickly. And that trip saved his life. In the hospital, they found water in his heart and lungs which prompted an immediate open heart surgery. During the surgery there were all sorts of complications and his family was left with a decision: Say their final goodbyes or put Jim on an ECMO machine. They put him on an ECMO machine and saved his life. But his journey wasn't over yet. Part of his recovery was being in a drug-induced coma for 9 days. And then intensive physical therapy afterwards. Anyway, this happened a little over a year ago. Jim st…