T.D. Jakes Reveals His Health Scare Was A Massive Heart Attack

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Globally, social media users were stunned when they saw T.D. Jakes shaking on stage during a live sermon towards the end of 2024. The renowned pastor joined the TODAY show on March 26 to discuss the health scare.
“I didn’t really realize what was happening to me onstage until I got to the hospital in an ambulance and fussing that it happened onstage, by the way, because I didn’t want it to happen, and the doctor leaned over my ear and said, ‘You had a massive heart attack,’” the pastor told Craig Melvin on TODAY.
Jakes was delivering a sermon on Nov. 23, 2024, at The Potter’s House in Dallas when he suddenly experienced a medical emergency, which we now know was a heart attack. Clips from the service circulated on social media, sparking concern from fans globally.
“The reason I didn’t realize it was because I had none of the symptoms that they say,” Jakes told Craig about the heart attack. “No numbness, no sharp pain, no anything. I just kind of drifted off to sleep. I didn’t know what it was, but I almost died.
Some common signs of a heart attack include chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, sweating, upper body pain, or nausea. Jakes continued, “(The doctor) said five minutes later, I’d have been dead on arrival. The right side of my heart had completely stopped getting blood at all.”
The 67-year-old also explained how he physically felt during the service.
“As long as I was up preaching, I felt fine,” he said. “But when I sat down, the adrenaline dropped, and it exposed the fact that I was preaching with half of my heart closed through a clot. And they had to go get it.”
Jakes went on to share what he saw during his near-death experience, explaining that it was a serene and alluding to him getting a prelude to what heaven is like.
“It’s hard for me to look at that video,” he said. “They had to claw the microphone out of my hand. But in my mind, I was in a quiet, peaceful, serene, white-enveloped, cloud-enveloped space.
“I was on my way out,” he continued. “Afterwards, in retrospect, it was such a privilege to stand on the other side, to get a little glimpse of what it might be like, or at least what it was like in that moment for me. I think it was absolutely amazing.”
Although Jakes had a near-death experience, he has no plans of slowing down. The pastor said he will be attending some upcoming church events and is also working on starting a new podcast.