Emmy-winning actor Billy Porter reveals he was “dead for three days” after suffering from a near-fatal bout of sepsis.
Porter, 56, was set to have a kidney stone removed from his urethra in September of last year when doctors encountered a far more grave situation. “There was so much puss and bile and infection behind the stone. It bubbled up, and I went uroseptic in minutes,” Porter explained on an episode of the podcast Outlaws with TS Madison.
Urosepsis occurs when an untreated urinary tract infection spreads to the kidneys. If the illness is not addressed immediately, sepsis can result in organ failure and death.
“I was dead for three days,” Porter said. The Pose star needed to be hooked up to the EMCO machine, a form of life support, while being treated for the sepsis.
But the battle for his health was not over. After he awoke, Porter was told by doctors he was suffering from compartment syndrome, which occurs when excessive pressure restricts oxygen to muscles.
“They had to cut me open on either side of my leg while I was in a coma, and from my knee to my hip, and leave it open for two days so they could save my leg,” Porter explained.
“I am a miracle. I’m a walking miracle,” Porter said about his recovery.
Porter had to withdraw from his starring role in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club due to his illness, which ended the show’s run at the five-month mark.
The actor’s “doctors are confident that he will make a full recovery, but have advised him to maintain a restful schedule these next couple of weeks,” the producers of the show said after making the decision to end the show.
But it wasn’t all bad, according to Porter, who said the time in the hospital allowed him to reflect.
“The first thing I heard was work smarter, not harder,” he recalled. “The second thing I heard was be obedient and answer the call. And the third thing I heard was, don’t you ever stop telling the truth again.”
The 56-year-old now believes he’s on the mend. “It was not easy. It’s been a very, very challenging four months. And I want everybody to know that I am on the road to a full recovery. I’m not there yet, but I’m on the road to that,” Porter said on Instagram in December.
