NEWS
Teen heart patient, Ben Breedlove’s powerful video, leaves remarkable legacy
Ben Breedlove, 18, a Texas teen with a serious heart condition, posted a pair of powerful Youtube videos a week before he died on Christmas. The videos quickly went viral after his death. In the videos titled “This is my story,” Breedlove sits silently in a room, holding up a series of flash cards describing how he cheated death three times.
The first time Breedlove cheated death, he was four years old. He remembers staff members wheeling him on a stretcher while his mother ran beside him.
“There was this big bright light above me,” Breedlove holds up a flash card. “I couldn’t make out what it was because it was so bright. I told my mom, ‘Look at the bright light’ and pointed up. She said she didn’t see anything…I cannot even begin to describe the peace, how peaceful it was. I will NEVER forget that feeling or that day.”
In the video, Breedlove writes that he underwent surgery for a pacemaker in 2009 and shows his scar. The second time he cheated death was in the summer of 2011 when a simple tonsil surgery sent him into cardiac arrest
“It was a miracle that they brought me back,” Breedlove holds up a card. “I was scared to die, but am SO glad I didn’t.”
The third time Breedlove cheated death was earlier this month when he fainted in school. He woke up to find EMS around him. “I couldn’t talk or move,” he writes. “I could only watch what they were doing….I really thought to myself, this is it. I’m dying.”
Breedlove then had a vision where he was in a silent, white room with no walls. He was dressed in a nice suit with his favorite rapper Kid Cudi and was at peace with himself.
Kid Cudi posted an emotional response on his blog. “This has really touched my heart in a way I can’t describe. This is why I do what I do. Why I write my life, and why I love you all so much. We love you Ben. Forever. Thank you for loving me.”
According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, heart disease is the number one cause of death for men and women, regardless of race or ethnicity. Ben Breedlove suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition in which one part of his heart was thicker than the rest, making it difficult for his heart to pump blood.
He died tragically on Christmas Day just before Christmas dinner with family and friends. He leaves behind a truly remarkable legacy that has touched many people.
“Do you believe in angels or God?” Breedlove asks at the end of the video. “I do.”
By GR