21 May 2026 · 1 min
In this unscripted episode of the Healthy Mindset App Podcast, host Mike Hartman introduces the Healthy Mindset App Coach AI, who shares a raw, first‑person account of a sudden, life‑threatening health crisis that began with severe chills and rigors during a trip to a New York Rangers anniversary event. Ignoring early warning signs, he delayed seeking medical care until his wife, Cheryl, forced a hospital visit. After extensive testing, doctors diagnosed sepsis originating in his spleen that had spread to his mitral valve, necessitating emergency open‑heart surgery. He recounts the intense hospital stay, the critical role of a multidisciplinary medical team (infectious disease specialists, cardiologists, surgeons), and the unwavering support from family, friends, and former teammates. The experience taught him three core lessons: never procrastinate on health concerns, the indispensable value of a supportive community, and the importance of diligent follow‑up care. He describes a four‑week hospital stay, six weeks of IV antibiotics, and ongoing cardiac rehabilitation, emphasizing gratitude and a renewed commitment to proactive health maintenance. The episode closes with a heartfelt call to listeners to prioritize medical appointments—whether physicals, colonoscopies, or dental visits—to avoid similar crises.
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Welcome to the Healthy Mindset App Podcast, where host Mike Hartman, a performance coach and former professional athlete, brings his passion to help athletes and workplace athletes achieve their dreams and goals while being mindful of everything else in life. Mike also uses this platform to share his targeted assessment application, Healthy Mindset Course, meditation, and goal-setting technique for the athlete and workplace athlete. We're glad you're here. Now let's dive headfirst into this episode of the Healthy Mindset App Podcast. Here's your host, Mike Hartman.
Welcome back to another episode, and I mentioned in my Facebook group that I'm going to, uh, teach and tell some stories, uh, on the podcast because I like to teach through story. It's one thing that I do, and I had a bunch of stories that are in the queue but I decided to do this one unscripted. And the purpose of this story is really, it's not so much about me. I'm gonna share my story with what has happened to me recently, but it's for something to learn by. And I call it the fight I never expected. And I was invited to late January. I ended up I was invited to the New York Rangers 100-year anniversary, and I was super excited. I was gonna bring Cheryl, my better half, and my kids. Cheryl was not able to make it. She had to take care of our dog Puffins, and my kids were able to make it. And it was gonna be exciting 'cause we were gonna play a game at Madison Square Garden, the alumni, have a nice dinner. Then the next day, we were gonna be introduced at Madison Square Garden. And it was great for my kids to see that, and I thought this is going to be a really nice experience. Well, it turned out that the Saturday game was canceled, and that ended up being a good thing for me, and I'll explain as we're going why. And the next day they did have the game with the Bruins. We were introduced, but I could only be there for like 2 periods. I told my kids, because I just started not feeling good, In fact, I started a thought which was the— I had like the shakes. I started this not— it was amazing. I thought I had the chills. I wasn't sure what was going on. I later found out what I had was the rigors. And imagine that you have the chills times 1,000 and you can't control it. So I ended up having that back in my room. Not to get too graphic, I threw up. Just before I was leaving, I left Madison Square Garden and thank goodness I didn't throw up in front of 20,000 people. And I said, "Boy, something's wrong with me." Well, the next day I was flying home to Charlotte and I just, again, this whole, that trip didn't feel well. I know Stephon Matos called me. He said, "Man, you look like crap when I saw you. Can I bring you water? Can I bring you food?" I go, "Thanks, Steph." Anything like a brother would do. He was there for me as, as just amazing, trying to help me as well as some of my teammates. And I said, I just don't feel good. So I get home, early flight, and I tell Cheryl, Cheryl picks me up and I say, I am going home to sleep. I don't feel right. So I do. I get to my house around 1 o'clock and I slept until 6. She comes up to check on me. And I'm shaking again with these rigors, like I'm shaking like uncontrollably. She says, that's it, I'm taking you to the hospital. And as stubborn as I am, and as a coach, I should have known this, and I should have— this is common sense. I decided not to go. I said, no, I'm not going to the hospital, I'm fine. She goes, we are going to the hospital now. I said, No. Well, that's the first time. The second time is now it's 11 at night and I'm shaking again. And she's getting really concerned. Cheryl's like, what is going on with you? This, I'm calling the ambulance. And I had to tell her to put the phone down. I just have the chills. I'm not feeling good. Well, the next morning, that's it. 3 strikes and you're out. She called my doctor. The doctor said, get to the hospital ASAP. So I get to the hospital and I think I was there about 4 hours. They were doing blood tests. I was talking to different doctors and they couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. And as the doctors are coming in the room, they came in the room to tell me that they were going to transport me to a different hospital. I started having the rigors again in front of these doctors and some PAs and it was Not that it was embarrassing, but it was extremely uncomfortable. And here I am in this room and Cheryl just left. She left to go home, take our dog Puffins out because all she was doing was looking after me that day. She goes home, takes our dog out, and was gonna come back. And I had to have somebody call her and say, I'm being transported to the hospital uptown. And I I couldn't understand, like, why are they taking me from one hospital to another? So they didn't say much at all to me except that you have a serious infection and they're going to address it more when you get to the hospital uptown. So I'm up there. They put me on antibiotics right away and they told me that I have sepsis and it was traveling through my body. It started, I think it started in my spleen and it started just traveling throughout the body. And if anybody knows anything about sepsis, it can kill you. So, um, it was serious and I didn't know what was going to happen. But the one thing I learned from that was quit procrastinating. You know, if I'm telling anybody out there, if there's anything wrong with you, please get checked out ASAP. I recently had a friend call me and he says he's having a colonoscopy and I said, "Oh, fantastic!" Then he said, "I'm just gonna put it on hold," and I begged him not to do that because it's just, you know, when you procrastinate and you say, "I'll do it later," again, your health is, is everything. So Looking back now, so I'm going through this, I'm in the hospital, and of course I put things off, which I never should have done, and now this sepsis is traveling. The heart doctors came in and they told me it is now moving really quick, as well as the infectious disease specialists. They were wonderful. I can't thank them enough. Dr. Michaels and Dr. Harley. Well, this Dr. T comes in and says, I have news for you. We have to operate on you. I said, operate? Yes, this is traveling quick and you don't do it. I mean, he was direct. He was great, this Dr. T. If you don't do it, you won't, you won't survive at all. And right now we got some of the sepsis, but it's traveled, you know, because they've looked at the CAT scans and all the other things that they did, they looked at it and it attacked my mitral valve towards my heart. Well, you have to know if it's going to your heart, that's it. You're, you're gonna die. So I, for me, that was probably the most anxiety I've ever had in my life. And being a coach and you try to coach yourself, which isn't easy, I said, okay, what am I gonna do now? I'm I'm like in the middle of this and I'm like thinking, I really thought I was gonna die actually after what they were telling me. The, you know, Dr. T says he has to open you up through the middle because he's afraid that it's spreading even more and they have to see if they even can replace your mitral valve. They want to look, it's like lifting up the hood of a car. And in my mind, my thoughts went, right away that I'm not gonna make it. And I start thinking about my Cheryl, I start thinking about my kids, I start thinking about my parents. And I'm gonna get into that next because the next part was without a team of people around you, the doctors who I didn't even know until then, infectious disease specialists, the nurses, without a team, I wouldn't be here today. And also had a team of friends. Uh, uh, you know, first of all, I'm gonna thank Cheryl again. She saved my life. Without her, I would not be here today. I was told I had like probably 2 days to live with the sepsis. And without my mother, my father, my brother, my sister, my relatives, uh, they're calling and reaching out. My good friends, uh, My teammates with the New York Rangers, Glenn Healy, I can't thank enough, and Adam Graves and Matteau. I can go on and on. Marc Messier, Eddie Olczyk sending messages every day. He even sent me something during the Kentucky Derby just before he was doing it, and then he just, you know, he's messaging me all the time making sure I'm okay. You know, he went through his battle with cancer. My friend Todd Ellick. But like I said, my good friend Marty, he was my coach. Hey Mike, you got this, you have this. And I can't thank enough people. I think, like I said, the doctors and Cheryl so many times, but without a team you can't do it. And Marc Messier, it's one thing I, one of my takeaways from this is you can't do things alone. You need a team, you need a community of of people around you to make this work. And I know I would not be here if I didn't have that community. And a lot of this is redundant. Like I said, this is unscripted, and I just wanted to share this for the purpose for your own health. So anytime, you know, the, you know, you have to have something done, even a physical, I tell my own kids, you have to have your physicals. You have to do that. You have to follow through with everything that you're doing medically. You have to. You can't put it off. You have to do it. You know, take the time to get it done because take it from someone that has learned their lesson the hard way, and it was tough. I ended up being in the hospital for a total of 4 weeks. Then you're home for 6 weeks on antibiotics. They put a midline in your arm and you can't do much. You're walking in a walker and it's tough. I'm a very active person. I don't, I don't barely drink. I don't smoke. I take care of myself. I'm up at 4:30 in the morning. I eat well. Guess what? All that didn't matter because I, what did I do? I didn't do the right thing and I should have taken care of this. So, you know, you know, please do that. And, uh, just fast forwarding, I, I, 4 weeks in the hospital, 4 weeks, uh, you know, about, about 4 weeks in a chair where, because I can't move my chest, I can't lean on anything, I had to sleep in a chair. They actually tie— when they open you up, it's almost like they picture a big wire and they're closing you so you can't have any movement with your upper body. You can't even open the refrigerator and really pull the refrigerator. There's so many things that you can't do. So I had, you know, in-home therapy, which was great, and now it's going on 3 months exactly since the surgery. May 17th was 3 months and I'm in cardiac rehab, 45 minutes of conditioning. I feel amazing. And thank goodness for the team around me again, and thank goodness for that. So I just wanted to share this message. I hope it— I'm touching some people's lives, and I'm hoping that if you do have an appointment, no matter what it is, could be a dental, appointment. It could be going for your colonoscopy. It could be any of that. Please take care of your health. I can't say it enough. I don't know if I'm getting through to everybody, but please, please take care of yourself. And I'm gonna just get back to sharing stories, and I— we have a bunch of good stories coming up, but I thought it was important that I shared this with everybody, and I wish everybody the very best.
We're so glad you joined us for this episode of the Healthy Mindset App Podcast with your host, Mike Hartman. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to rate, subscribe, and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. That helps others find the show, and we greatly appreciate it. To dive deeper and learn more about the Healthy Mindset Program or to get in touch with Mike, please visit our website, HealthyMindsetApp.com. Thanks again for listening, and we hope you'll join us again in the next episode of the Healthy Mindset App Podcast. Until then, be well.
