Bret Michaels took a step back in his recovery from a brain hemorrhage yesterday after he was rushed to the hospital for a new affliction, triggered by what doctor’s call a warning stroke.
His new condition is considered unrelated to the hemorrhage. A statement on Michaels’ web site called the connection “highly unlikely.”
Poison singer, 47, is one of the finalists on Donald Trump’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” reality show and Michaels was looking forward to participating in the live finale on May 23.
He “was readmitted to the hospital this week after suffering numbness on the left side of face and left hand. Doctors described the affliction as a transient ischemic attack, or warning stroke.”
In addition, doctors discovered that Michaels has a hole in his heart, called a “patent foramen ovale.”
His physician, Joseph Zabramski, called the diagnosis “devastating news to Bret and his family.”
“The good news is that it is operable and treatable, and we think we may have diagnosed the problem that caused the transient ischemic attack,” Zabramski says.
Michaels was making a remarkable recovery from his hemorrhage and appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show earlier this week.
He look and spoke as if he was close to 100 percent, although he said he still suffered from headaches and some numbness in his body.
He was undergoing physical therapy sessions twice a day to regain his old form, and hoped to perform with his band again in two weeks.
Most of the Celebrity Apprentice finale was taped last fall, and Michaels is a finalist.
The winner was to be broadcast live. NBC had said it was “cautiously optimistic” Michaels would appear, but his latest setback leaves that in question.
Janna Elias, the singer’s rep issued the following statement:
“Even though these last few months have been tough on him and his family, especially this most recent setback, he is in good spirits, great medical hands and is positive and hopeful that everything is going to be OK. He is up, walking, talking, continuing his daily rehab and very happy to be alive.”
