Kirk Herbstreit’s on-field performance as Ohio State’s quarterback never turned heads. But delivering a speech or news in front of thousands of football fans or multiple cameras has always been a calling for the veteran analyst. However, beneath the made-for-TV visage is a man who has stared down the question of his own mortality one too many times.

Among the many health scares that have made him wonder, “Is this it?”, was a recent incident that put him in a wheelchair, as he recently revealed.

“I was out in Las Vegas for Kenny’s opening night at the Sphere and just went to breakfast with Alli [Alison Herbstreit],” Herbstreit started telling his medical story on The Pat McAfee Show. “I got up from breakfast, couldn’t walk, just locked up… wheelchair.

“Basically, Dr. (Allen K.) Sills (neurosurgeon), who’s the NFL Chief Medical Officer, he luckily lives in Nashville, and he and his team were trying to figure out, because I have so much degenerative stuff, and I have stenosis. I didn’t know any of these words, by the way, six weeks ago.

“I couldn’t get out of bed or walk for six weeks. I had these zingers in my upper quad, in my upper glute, just couldn’t walk. I’ve been able to walk here for about a week now. So ready to roll now. Back out in the trails.”

After some studies, the doctors revealed that a bone spur was pressing directly against Herbstreit’s L5 nerve root, located in the lumbar spine. It causes a condition called L5 radiculopathy, which compresses the nerve, leading to shooting pain down the outer leg, numbness in the top of the foot, and potential weakness in lifting the big toe or ankle. Kirk Herbstreit did not waste time sitting it out.

He underwent a quick, non-invasive surgical procedure to remove the bone spur and relieve the compressed nerve. Since then, he has been walking at least a few miles every day as he continues to recover. As things stand, he is walking without any complications and appears quite excited to resume his duties for ESPN and Amazon Prime. However, this wouldn’t be his time facing a life-threatening condition.

Kirk Herbstreit’s two medical emergencies changed his outlook on life

Many would know about the 56-year-old’s wife’s cancer and son’s heart condition. But four years ago, Herbstreit revealed that he himself faced a critical medical emergency.

In April 2022, the analyst was diagnosed with blood clots that had traveled from his heart to his ankles and lungs. What was scarier was how it all started.

One day, he was lying in his bed and noticed pain in the right side of his chest. Previously, he thought he must have pulled his calf muscles. But when he had difficulty breathing, he went to see his cardiologist friend in Columbus.

“Your heart arteries are crystal clear, look great,” Herbstreit recalled the doctor saying. “But, you’re not going to believe this: You have clots in your lungs.”

Upon returning to his home in Cincinnati, Herbstreit got his right calf scanned and found more clots. Worse news was only waiting for him.

“Somehow they got into my bloodstream, went through my heart and into my lungs,” Herbstreit told The LA Times in 2022. “Once it got into the lungs, it’s like a dead end. They’re in your lungs, but they go through your heart. That’s where people die. And so I was just like, ‘Damn.’”

He was immediately put on blood thinners and was better after a few days. Years ago, despite making it to the varsity baseball team with a batting average of 500, another medical emergency forced him to leave “probably my first love,” but also made him fear for his life.

“I burst my appendix. Almost died my tenth-grade year because they misdiagnosed it,” he reminisced last year.

Since then and now, Herbstreit has certainly grown more cautious about his health. But with the college football season starting soon, there’s a chance or two that some incidents could make his blood boil. But hopefully, everything will be fine as he looks forward to returning to his studio desk with a clean bill of health.