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Ex-wrestler Adrian Street reveals how he dramatically flatlined on the operating table

Ex-wrestler Adrian Street reveals how he dramatically flatlined on the operating table

Posted: Jul 23rd 2017 By: Walesonline.co.uk

Wrestling legend Adrian Street has revealed how he nearly died while undergoing routine surgery.

The 76-year-old was undergoing a colonoscopy in the US when he suddenly flatlined.

“The doctor said he had put me down for a colonoscopy and I told him I didn’t like the sound of that,” the Blaenau Gwent -born dad of three said.

“He’d done a full exam of my blood, heart, lungs, liver and everything.

“He said the only thing he did not know about was my bowel and intestines.”

He was sent for the test – which looks for problems including tumors – shortly after having treatment for cataracts.

“When I had the procedure I flatlined for six seconds,” Adrian, who lives in Florida, said.

“My wife Linda was in the next room and all she could hear was ‘We’re losing him! We’re losing him!’

“The next thing I gained consciousness, or something like that.

“The first thing I remember was hearing the words ‘Stay with us!’

“Then they called for an ambulance – bearing in mind the place I was in was part of a complex, they must have sent an ambulance to take me 200 yards.

“It cost me $700 for a 200-yard ambulance dash. That nearly gave me a heart attack.”

The experience was “horrendous”, said Adrian, adding it took “forever” to stabilise his heart rate from zero to 20.

“But being an athlete I have a low heart rate – it’s usually in the mid-50s.

“Afterwards a cardiologist put me on a monitor and when I got the results he said they were fantastic.”

It was not Adrian’s first brush with death.

“I had throat cancer,” he said.

“The doctors diagnosed me and said ‘You have got throat cancer, you’re not going to make it out of this’.

“I said I’m not dying yet – there are too many people I have not p***ed off.”

That was 17 years ago.

Despite his overall good health Adrian, from a Brynmawr coal-mining family, is not tempted to get back in the ring.

“As a result of all those years wrestling I get serious pains in my shoulders,” he said.

“If I went in the ring I think I would hurt myself hurting someone else.

“When I was first wrestling I was wrestling more than 40 times a month.

“Sometimes I would be wrestling in the morning, afternoon and in the night.

“I could do that because I am the toughest person I have ever known.”

He kept wrestling despite being told to stop.

In his 50s he was “wrestling a guy who was half my age and twice my size”.

“He jumped on me and hit my leg and took my kneecap off,” Adrian said.

“After months off from that the doctor told me ‘You’ll never wrestle again.’

“People should not say that to me – I will prove them wrong.”

Another time a fan hit him with a walking stick.

“He split my right ear all over the side of my face.

“The surgeon told me ‘Don’t wrestle anymore.’

“I have also cracked my ribs, broken my nose I don’t know how many times,

“Every time they have said, ‘Give it up, give it up’.

“But I was not going to give up on the dream no matter what.”

He only retired when he was ready – at 73.

Filmmaker Joann Randles is currently making a documentary about Adrian.

The 29-year-old, from Newport , is flying to meet the flamboyant star at his home in Gulf Breeze.

“It’s going to be very exciting to meet the man in person after all this time,” she said.

“A lot of what Adrian has done has inspired me to keep doing what I am doing.

“He’s personally had an effect on me to keep me pursuing my dreams because his story is so positive.”

 

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