Chad Michael Murray Opens Up About Near-Death Experience at 15

Chad Michael Murray had a near-death experience when he was only 15 and he’s opening up about what happened during his teenage years.

The 38-year-old former One Tree Hill actor talked about suffering from twisted intestines during an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show.

“They didn’t know what was wrong,” Chad said. Doctors had difficulty figuring out what happened because of his fit physique.

“This sounds so stupid — and trust me, I’m not on an ego trip when I say this — but because I was in physical good condition, my abdomen was tight and when I started bleeding internally, my stomach didn’t expand,” he said. “Basically, my abs kept it flat so the doctors couldn’t tell I was bleeding. They saw my red and white blood cells dropping but they didn’t know where it was going.”

“I almost died,” Chad continued. “They had a priest at the end of my bed. I remember, it was the only time I ever saw my dad cry — well, one of two times.”

Chad says an on-duty nurse helped save his life.

“[She] saved my life that night,” he said. “Her name was Sandy, I’ll never forget her, we took her chocolates for years after until she moved hospitals. But she got four units of blood and saved my life that night, against the grain. She just did it. She locked the door, gave me four units of blood, and saved my life.”

Chad credits this experience as what motivated him to become an actor.

“The one thing that really saved me from that moment in life where I missed Christmas and I missed New Years was television and film. … These movies and television would be on and I would be like, ‘I want to do that man. I want to give people something to smile about. That’s what I want to do. I want to entertain so people can stop worrying about the mundane aspects of life.’ Maybe you’re going through something tough, I want to pull you out of it for two hours,” he said.

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