‘Bringing Up Bates’ Star Gil Bates Suffered Heart Attack Days After Son’s Wedding

Bringing Up Bates star Kelly Jo Bates said the family is “living out a miracle” amid her husband Gil Bates’ recovery from a heart attack that could have been fatal if not checked sooner.

Kelly Jo shared the news on Instagram on Wednesday (September 30), revealing that Gil was hospitalized just days after their son, Warden, tied the knot with Kaybrie Bates. “Once again the Lord has been so merciful to us!” she wrote alongside a selfie of herself and Gil in what appeared to be a hospital bed.

“For the past 2 weeks, Gil has felt an unusual feeling in his chest lasting about 30 seconds off & on, and occasionally his jaw would hurt. He wasn’t in pain, but he felt like something wasn’t right,” she continued. “Busy schedules, work, & the fact that he didn’t know for certain that something was wrong kept him from going to the hospital.”

However, Kelly Jo said that Gil decided to drive himself to the ER on Monday night (September 28) after finishing work. She explained how Gil thought they’d “do some blood work & send him home,” but instead, “he was quickly whisked into a room & was told he was having a mild heart attack.”

 

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Gil was given medication and kept stable until the day shift doctors arrived on Tuesday (September 29) to do a heart cath, which involves a narrow tube being fed through a blood vessel in the leg or arm to get to the coronary arteries.

“The cath procedure took 4 hrs, as they had to do extensive work to the LAD artery (nicknamed the widow maker),” Kelly Joe added. “He had 80% blockage in that artery & a lot of calcium build up. A regular balloon would not open it, so they used Shockwave (lithotripsy) & then placed a 24 mm stent in it.”

Gil had another stent put in the RCA artery, where he had the actual heart attack, which was 95 percent blocked. “There was a 3rd artery with a 45-50% blockage that did not require a stent,” she noted.

Kelly Jo recalled how the doctor told them that Gil had been a “ticking time bomb” and “was extremely close to having a major heart attack!”

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“Fortunately, it was corrected in time, and with GOD’S GRACE (and a wonderful team of doctors), we’re living out a MIRACLE & are going home today!” she stated. “The doctor said it could’ve been a VERY different story, & I could’ve been going home alone.”

Kelly Jo, who starred on the Up TV reality series alongside her husband and their 19 children, said that Gil will be “starting cardiac therapy next week, along with some other diet & medicine changes, but his normal activity should be able to resume!”

She concluded, “We’re beyond thankful for the love, care, & many prayers we’ve been showered with from family, friends, & medical staff these past 2 days.”