Kirk Herbstreit always seems calm, composed, and firmly in control, just as you’d expect from someone who has spent years in the spotlight. But there’s a side to his story fans rarely see.
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While discussing Jalen Hurts’ Week 6 absence due to a blood clot in his leg, Kirk Herbstreit revealed on The Pat McAfee Show that he faced a similar scare in 2022. What he initially dismissed as a minor calf injury turned into a life-threatening ordeal when the clot traveled to his lungs, leaving him with a health battle he could never afford to ignore.
“I had calf injury that I thought was a calf injury ended up being—I found out later I had a heart scan for something else, and I ended up having a pulmonary embolism,” said Herbstreit.
A pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery in the lungs, disrupting blood flow and oxygen supply. It usually happens when a clot forms in a deep vein, often in the leg, breaks loose and travels through the bloodstream to the lungs. A pulmonary embolism can be life-threatening and requires immediate medical attention.
In April 2022, the analyst received a frightening diagnosis. After weeks of brushing off the warning signs, he finally underwent a heart scan, expecting reassurance. The good news? His heart was fine. The terrifying twist? Doctors discovered blood clots in his lungs.
“If it goes through your heart, it could block your heart and kill you. Mine went through my heart and ended up going through the heart and then ended up in the lungs,” said Herbstreit.
Once Herbstreit realized just how dangerous the blood clots were, he immediately started taking blood thinners. Although he began feeling better within days, the health scare forced him to sit out ESPN’s NFL Draft coverage.
According to the National Library of Medicine, pulmonary embolism (PE) affects approximately one in every 1,000 people annually and is associated with a high risk of death.
In the United States alone, the condition claims around 100,000 lives each year. PE most commonly occurs when a blood clot forms in a deep vein, usually in the legs or pelvis, breaks loose and travels to the lungs, obstructing blood flow.
Four years later, the consequences of that frightening episode remain. Herbstreit revealed on The Pat McAfee Show that he will need blood thinners for the rest of his life.
“And from that day on, I’ve been on Xarelto, which is a blood thinner, and I’ll be on those the rest of my life just to prevent the potential of getting a blood clot,” said Herbstreit.
While Herbstreit has recovered from that incident, he is no stranger to life-threatening medical scares. Long before his 2022 health ordeal, he faced another brush with death in 10th grade.
A passionate baseball fan with dreams of making it big in the sport, Herbstreit saw those ambitions nearly crumble when a medical emergency brought his budding baseball career to a sudden halt.
“I made the varsity as a sophomore, which was fun but scary, just being around that environment. I burst my appendix. Almost died, my 10th grade year because they misdiagnosed it,” he revealed.
When his baseball dreams came to an end, he turned to football, eventually becoming the quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes from 1989 to 1992.