Frank McGrath detailed a health incident he dealt ahead of the 2023 Olympia.
Frank McGrath is an extremely popular bodybuilder that has done it all over the course of his career. Prior to the 2023 Olympia, McGrath shared a video on Instagram detailing a health incident he was suffering from. Just over a month later, he sat down with Antoine Valliant and IFBB AMA to give fans the full story of what happened.
McGrath earned his Pro Card in 2003 at 25 years old. Over the course of his career, McGrath suffered many injuries, including a torn tricep in 2008. Two years later, he was involved inna car accident where he sustained a collapsed lung and damaged his spleen. He was able to make a return to the stage and competed at the 2011 Olympia.
Recently, it was a testosterone shot that cause McGrath problems. He was feeling off ahead of the Olympia but was able to attend the show. The Sunday following the show, his symptoms began reaching another level.
“I was having problems eating. I had no appetite and was pretty tired but I pushed through it like I always do. I woke up, I think it was Sunday morning, and my shoulder was super swollen, very painful. I stayed in bed all day. Flew home and thought it was just a bad shot. We’ve all done a bad shot. You get a little lump, no big deal.”
McGrath continued to explain how he felt once he was home.
Frank McGrath: “I Really Felt Myself Fading Away”
Frank McGrath explained his first visit to the hospital. After getting his bloodwork done, the doctors found no infection. They sent him home and told him to return later that night or the following day.
While McGrath was home, he did not feel himself and ended up passing out and cutting his head on the toilet.
“When I was home, I just was starting to not feel well besides the pain. I was having major, major pains in my stomach. At one point, I felt like I was gonna throw up.”
Back in the hospital, McGrath was given two bags of blood right away once they found that his blood pressure was very low. He was taken to the ICU and after multiple tests, ulcers were found in his esophagus and stomach, along with bowel inflammation and internal bleeding.
“I thought I was dying.”
“I really felt myself fading away. I was disoriented. It’s such a hard thing to describe, to feel like the life is draining out of you.”
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Because McGrath is on dialysis, he must take blood thinners and doctors found that his blood was seven times thinner than normal. His shoulder was unable to heal because the blood kept flowing through the piercing.
“The reason it was so dangerous for me, I’m not going to say I didn’t do anything wrong here because I did. When you’re on dialysis, you’re susceptible to blood clots. I was on blood thinners to make sure my blood doesn’t clot.”
The incident made Frank McGrath think differently about bloodwork and overall health. The pro bodybuilder is used to training hard and being strict within his diet and this is what he will continue to do to focus on his health.
The video ended with McGrath giving advice to everyone out there, whether you are involved in bodybuilding or not. The call-to-action was to make sure others now the importance of bloodwork.
“Just do your bloodwork. It’s simple man. Don’t be lazy. Even if it’s just a few times a year, just to make sure you’re healthy. The healthier you are, the bigger and more jacked you can be.”
“It doesn’t even have to do with bodybuilding, just general health. It doesn’t matter what age you are. If you’re feeling some kind of way, you don’t feel good, get it checked. It’s always great to do your bloodwork. You can tell so much from it. You can be pre-exposed to certain conditions that you don’t even know about.”
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