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According to the Ross Report (a report by the head of talent from WWE), which just came out earlier today, Chris Kanyon is currently in the Intensive Care Unit due to a breathing problem from fluid in his lungs. As of this afternoon, the fluid in the lungs appeared to be gone but tests are being done to determine what caused the problem and he's expected to remain in ICU all weekend. This has to have been a horrible year career wise for Kanyon, being out much of the past year after blowing out his knee, then coming back and tearing it up in developmental. He was scheduled to start back on the main roster last weekend, and just before starting, he separated his shoulder, which then got infected which caused the hospitalization. While hospitalized, he developed the fluid in his lungs.
Thoughts straight from the guy himself
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I wrote the following paragraph last week while in the hospital. "It is Saturday night/Sunday morning, 5AM in a hospital in Atlanta. The corridors are quiet. A constant barrage on my sense of smell of that all too common hospital odor: a less than appetizing mix of medicine, bad food and sickness. I am tired. I am lonely. And, sitting here in this quiet, bad smelling boring and lonesome hospital room, now more than ever I feel motivated and dedicated to get back in the ring. Not only to show what I can do once I get there, but now just to show that I CAN get there. Until now I really never had any doubt. And I still don't. But I think there may be some people out there second guessing me. Some people questioning me and my dedication. Some people doubting me?.challenging me. That's fine?I don't back down from a challenge."
Well, boy, have I been challenged over the past year. Finally after getting to the WWE (WWF at the time), and actually becoming the Invasion/Alliance MVP and the US Champ and the WWF Tag champs, and holding both belts simultaneously, and feeling like I am on top of the world, it all came crashing down. For the first time in my 10 year career I suffered my first major injury. A torn ACL. Estimated recovery time 4-6 months. At first I was real optimistic. But at the 4 ½ month mark, I did not get cleared to get back in the ring?possibly because I was pushing my knee rehab too hard, overdoing it. So I kept on with rehab, smarter this time and on my next doctor's visit, I was cleared. Two days later I am in OVW(the WWE's developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling) and pushing myself harder than I ever have. I spent 3 weeks in OVW and had a great time. I was very happy with my progress and with the matches and training sessions I had. I really got along well with the entire OVW crew and was inspired by all of them?the wrestlers, Jim Cornette, Danny Davis, the refs, everyone. I left there after 3 weeks ready to get back on the road and tear it up. I was probably more ready than I ever had been up to that point.
But, with the Austin situation and other things going on, I was not written back into the show. So back to OVW/HWA. And, again, I pushed myself hard?.maybe too hard this time. And again, I was very happy with my matches and my progress and my conditioning. My first match there was against Lance Cade, the HWA champ in Middletown Ohio on 7-6-02. I was very happy with the match and was inspired to wrestle Lance again. After a week I had a rematch with Lance in Lima, Ohio on 7-13-02. During that match, I went for a top rope splash. Lance moved out of the way and on impact, I knew I had hurt my shoulder?I just wasn't sure how badly. A few minutes later and a fall to the floor right on the shoulder, and I knew it was pretty bad. We finished the match and again I was very happy with it. The shoulder hurt but with old time wrestler mentality I figured I would just work through it.
So I wrestled the next day in Louisville for an HWA TV Taping. I than practiced with the OVW guys on Monday 7-15-02. Tuesday, I tried to rehab the shoulder with stretching, heat, ice, etc. I had OVW TV the next night and didn't want to miss it. That night I wrestled Damaja and I was very, very happy with the match. But the shoulder was done. I had gotten a call earlier that afternoon, Wednesday 7-17-02 telling me I was finally back on the road with the WWE. I would be flown from Atlanta to the PPV on Saturday night, work the Smackdown house show Monday 7-22-02 and go to the TV taping 7-23-02. So Thursday in extreme pain I drove back to Atlanta from Louisville. I figured a day and a half of rehab and the shoulder should be ok. After being out with an injury for so long, the last thing I wanted to tell the office was that I was hurt again. So drove to Atlanta ready to fly out Saturday night, but first I scheduled a massage on my shoulder for Friday morning.
After my therapist massaged the shoulder for 1 ½ hours, she told me I had to get it looked at..she had never felt or seen anything like it. So again, not wanting to tell the WWE I was hurt, I saw my own doctors. They diagnosed me with a dislocated shoulder, put it back in and sent me home with medications. But at this point it was hurting more than it was before they had put it back in. So I finally called the WWE and told them what happened. They set up an MRI on the shoulder for Saturday and a visit with an orthopedic doctor on Monday. The MRI showed a contusion on the left humeral head and some tendonitis in the supraspinatus tendon of the left shoulder. But thankfully, there was nothing torn. But the pain and fevers (which started Thursday night/Friday morning) persisted and intensified. After the PPV on Sunday 7-21-02, my friends rushed me to the ER. I don't remember that or anything until Monday night when the doctors told me they had to operate.
I told them I wanted a second opinion and they told me I had no time for that?the infection was getting much worse?so they cut me open and drained the infection and removed an abscess. They left it open to heal on its own (to this day I have an open wound on my shoulder about 3''x1.5''x3/4'' deep). I don't remember anything until Tuesday night, and then nothing until Wednesday morning when I started feeling much more alert, much less pain in the shoulder but intense migraine-type headaches. Thursday morning 7-25-02 I woke up and could not breathe. The nurses and doctors seemed nervous which got me pretty nervous. Now, I am no doctor so I am not sure how accurate the following stats are, but I am repeating what I remember the doctors and nurses telling me. For some reason (possibly a bad reaction to the medications or the infection getting into the lungs), my lungs filled up with fluid. The level of oxygen in my blood was 41%. Normally it should be 90%+. At 41%, the nurse told me, depending on how long your blood is at that level, anything from your cardiovascular system to your brain could shut down. Yeah, I was scared.
They rushed me to the ICU. They told me that normally when he lungs fill up like that it is usually caused by a problem with the heart, lungs or brain. So they did tons of tests on all of them and everything came up ok. Obviously, I am real happy about that but I am still concerned with the unanswered questions. They are not sure why the lungs filled up, but they were very confident that it was a freak occurrence and that I should not be afraid of it happening again. Also, they are not positive of why the dislocated shoulder became infected. They said wrestling on it for 4 days after I hurt it was not good for it. I was in a barn/fairgrounds when I hurt it and they said that if the dislocation also caused any kind of external cut, in those conditions, that may have been enough. If there was any kind of pre existing infection in the shoulder or anywhere in my body, the trauma to the shoulder could have forced it to centralize in the shoulder. But no definite answers.
What is definite is that I am home now. I was in the ICU on Thursday, and on that Sunday, 7-28-02, I was discharged. I have lost a good bit of weight, and the healing of the open wound is taking a lot of energy from me, but I am still motivated. I will be back. I feel I have something to prove now and I have people's expectations to live up to?including my own. So many people called and left messages and contacted people who are close to me and asked them about me. Many people who were concerned were friends and family from home but there were so many more from within the wrestling industry. People from the old WCW, from the WWE, from NWA and the indys. People I haven't talked to or heard from in years. It was inspiring and it definitely helped me. I want to thank everyone for their calls, well wishes, thoughts and prayers. It made me once again realize how lucky I am to be involved in this great business?.a business that at times feels more like a family than an industry. Which reminds me of one of my close friends in OVW (where it seems this all started). On my last trip up there, he mentioned that he recently went home and that he was surprised to realize that in many ways he feels closer to the people he has met through OVW than many of his lifelong friends that he has left back home. He was surprised and wondered how that could be. I told him that because wrestling is more than just a career choice, that in many ways it is a life choice, when you decide to attempt to make wrestling your life, you will never be the same. You will forever share a bond with not only the other wrestlers, but also everyone involved in wrestling from the production people to the promoters to your trainers to the fans. And it can be a bond stronger than any other bond you have in life, like the bond you have with family, wife or husband, closest friends, classmates, etc. I felt that bond over the past few weeks and it has inspired me and made me stronger and more dedicated and motivated than ever before. And I have wrestling and all the great people involved with it to thank. I am truly a lucky guy.
PS I want to personally thank JR for his comments about me on the Ross Report at
WWW.WWE.COM over the past few weeks. I cant tell you how great it has made me feel to read his kind and encouraging words. In case you missed it, here is what he wrote this week:
"I am happy to say that Chris Kanyon is feeling much better and is resting at home. Chris lost about 25 pounds while he was ill and in intensive care and is still very weak from the infection that started in his shoulder. He still has an open wound in his shoulder, which will remain that way for a couple more weeks. Chris is one of our most dedicated talents and we look forward to his return when he is 100 percent. Kanyon definitely has something to offer when he gets healthy."
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