Former Royals manager Mike Matheny shares story about his brush with death

Former Royals manager Mike Matheny has had a year so bad that he jokes he could be part of a country song. And it’s only August.

While on the Sports Spectrum Get in the Game podcast, Matheny revealed that he had a subarachnoid hemorrhage that nearly killed him. The Mayo Clinic described that as “bleeding in the space between the brain and the surrounding membrane (subarachnoid space).”

Matheny and his wife were at their West Palm Beach home when he went to work out on Jan. 17.

“I walked into the weight room just to get a typical workout and about 30 minutes in, I knew something was wrong and I had to leave,” Matheny said. “Went downstairs and at that point, I couldn’t even make it back home and called my wife. She came down and by that time I couldn’t open my eyes. My head was literally splitting and I knew something was bad. And my first thought was, if I can just get home I’ll go lay down and I’ll get through this. I found out later that if I had done that, I would not have woken up.

“So fortunately my wife was quick to call 911 and they got me to the hospital and fast forward it was called a subarachnoid hemorrhage. We found out later that when you have a subarachnoid hemorrhage 50% of the people die before they ever get to the hospital.”

Of those who do make it to a hospital, Matheny said, one-third won’t ever leave the hospital and another third will have lifelong brain damage. The other one-third seem to be OK. A little quick math shows Matheny was in the 16.5% of people who survive a subarachnoid hemorrhage without lasting effect.

Matheny, who retied as a player after suffering multiple concussions, was amazed that he suffered another brain injury. Matheny, 53, was obviously relieved that he didn’t suffer long-term health issues — or die.

Unfortunately, more calamity soon followed.

“Not to drag this story on but it does continue in the fact that I finally get clearance from the Mayo Clinic to come visit our family in northwest Arkansas where we spend a little bit of time in the summer,” Matheny said. “And we were building a house on a lake in Northwest Arkansas and a week after we got here, while we were at the house, a tornado decided to rip the roof off.”

The podcast host, Scott Linebrink, interjected: “Kind of sounds like a country song.”

Matheny, who was the Royals manager from 2020-22, said the problems only strengthened his relationship with God.

“It sounds exactly like a country song but no trains and no mamas,” Matheny quipped.. “Anyway, it is one of those things that to people from the outside I’m hesitant to even say it because it almost sounds like OK, how does this relate with this God story that you’re talking about? And the thing is, it has never related more than right now. ...

“Yes, life happens. And I can’t begin to say it strongly enough. That I don’t believe that I’m immune to life because I’m a follower of Jesus Christ. But what I am going to tell you is that I’m the recipient of a peace, I’m a recipient of a grace and a goodness. And a love that I don’t deserve shows its face so much more in these kinds of things that we don’t want going on. So people weren’t looking to get a sermon today. So I’m going to cut it off there but I’m just so eternally grateful.”