Ty Pennington Gets Candid About Medical Journey in Wake of Emergency Surgery

Kay D. Rhodes

Ty Pennington has come a very long way, folks.

The veteran HGTV star revealed on Instagram eight months ago that he had developed an abscess that required immediate surgery, writing as a caption back then to a photograph of himself in the hospital:

“Turns out, that sore throat Ive had for the last month was actually an abscess which had grown so large it was closing off my airway.

“Next thing I know, I was intubated and flown to the ICU in Denver. Wednesday I had surgery and yesterday afternoon I was released from the ICU.”

Ty Pennington at Barbie premiere
Ty Pennington attends the World Premiere of “Barbie” at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall on July 09, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)

YIKES, huh?

Fast forward to this week… and how is Pennington feeling?

“I’m great,” he just told Entertainment Tonight;s Deidre Behar. “You know what’s great is if you almost die, you get so much attention. It feels so nice to be that loved.”

That’s a very funny and we’d imagine, a very accurate assessment of such a situation.

Ty Pennington in 2018
Ty Pennington of Trading Spaces on stage during the TLC portion of the Discovery Communications Winter TCA Event 2018 at the Langham Hotel on January 12, 2018 in Pasadena. (Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images for Discovery)

Pennington went on in this ET interview to explain that he drove to the hospital at 4 a.m. last year — just two days after attending the Barbie movie premiere — with the goal of just getting a steroid to help whatever blockage was in his throat.

However, he was quickly told that he would have to be flown to the hospital in Denver for an emergency procedure, which he now refers to as “very dramatic.”

“It made me realize you just don’t know when your timecard’s gonna get pulled, so wake up, live every single day to the fullest,” he says.

“I mean that’s why the 60s is gonna be like time to start doing everything and that’s what I love about being part of these projects because I think we all want to make sure we’ve done things to be remembered.”

Ty Pennington in 2014
Ty Pennington attends the TBS/TNT Upfront 2014 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on May 14, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Turner)

Pennington is back on his feet now and excited about Season 5 of Rock the Block.

“I think this season could be the greatest season ever because there’s so much at stake because this is about pride and saying, ‘I am a winner,’ ” Pennington tells ET.

“And when you’ve got four teams that are trying to prove themselves, there is nothing they’re gonna hold back, and that’s the kind of design, that’s the kind of passion I love to see.”

Rock the Block airs Mondays (9/8c) on HGTV. The first four seasons can be streamed right now on Max.

Ty Pennington Gets Candid About Medical Journey in Wake of Emergency Surgery was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.