Meeting Kevin Sorbo

[JamesG]

I went to Kevin Sorbo's book signing over at the Barnes and Noble Warren Street in NYC for True Strength.





Kevin explained at the microphone about his past health issues.

He said he was working out in a gym and all of a sudden he felt a tingling sensation in his arm. At first he shrugged it off like no big deal, but then the numb sensations kept returning and he got more dizzy spells.

He then decided that he had to go and have himself checked out. On his publiciity tour for Kull the Conqueror in 1997 he went to many doctors and nobody found anything serious at first. At the time it was believed that it was due to a funny bone injury.





Shortly after that he was working out again and he said that, "I couldn't pick up 10lbs. It gave me a great deal of pain to do it." He then went to his chiropractor and he cracked his neck in a therapy session to relieve tension. He said that he hated the procedure.

On the way home, he began to experience blurry vision, dizziness and the next morning, he woke up to find that his speech was slurred and he could barely walk.





He explained his reasoning for why he didn't get himself checked out sooner
(around the very first time he began to feel the tingling sensations):

"I was in denial about it. It was my mostly due to my ego. Hercules, at the time, was the most watched show in the world and this would pretty much ruin my career. I really thought that at the time.

I didn't want people to know I was sick or to see me frail. I held on for as long as I could, but things simply were not getting any better and I knew that I had to check myself into a hospital around the time I started to loose my speech and could barely walk."





The hospital tests determined that he had an aneurysm that disrupted the blood flow to his lower arm. The aneurysm produced a series of blood clots over a period of time, and things could have been much worse if he didn't go to the hospital by this point.

He soon discovered that he suffered three strokes and he mentioned that he and the doctors were in absolute shock because, "Most peoples' strokes are caused by diabetes, poor diet, smoking... pretty much everything that I was not at the time. It could really happen to anybody. I was a "strong man" in great physical shape and I had three storkes. WOW."









Then the panel was open to audience Q&A:


A person asked why it wasn't revealed that he was sick sooner?

Kevin explained that "those close to him" knew about his health issues but they put a lid on it as far as the public was concerned. The studio heads didn't want it to be revealed to protect his reputation and star status.

Kevin explained that there was a time when he was trying out to be "the next action star of the day" and most studio heads, who knew about what was going on, didn't want to hire him because of the liability. Kevin said that it's all past him now and he doesn't regret anything.





Then there was a terminally ill woman who said that she came all the way from New Jersey to meet him against the wishes of her doctor.

She explained that she was bed-ridden during the time Hercules was on. She was saying that Hercules inspired her every day and she improved greatly with her physical therapy during the time the show aired.

Kevin looked genuinely touched by her story and thanked her dearly.



The woman then asked him what he did to cope with what was going on?


Kevin explained for the physical stuff he did meditation, yoga, and acupuncture. The acupuncture, "helped me out the greatest," he said.

For the mental stuff he explained that he went to therapists, which was something he never thought he would ever do.

He also said that his faith in God helped him out also. He explained that he's not one to push his beliefs on other people, but that his strong Christian faith really kept him moving. He said whether you believe in God or not is fine, but everyone has "that voice" that only they can hear that tells them what to do.





Someone asked him if he did "anything crazy" after he recovered. Like how people suddenly want to do things they never did before.. like skydiving.

Kevin laughed and said that he became a more compassionate, patient, and understanding person after what he went through.

He also said that he never understood the concept of suicide until after his illness. He clearly said that he never contemplated or attempted suicide himself but now totally understands why people choose to do it.





Someone then asked him what he's currently working on.

Kevin said that he's currently involved with a television show in development called Me2. He said that it's about an aging action star that has to train the new upcoming younger star. He then finds out that the younger star is his clone. He said that he hopes it works out.

He then went into one of his previous failed television experiences. He talked about the 2005 pilot 'Bobby Cannon' that was to air on ABC. Kevin explained that the pilot had great reception, but the studio head simply did not greenlight it. Kevin explained that most people do not realize that for most television one person is in charge of what you see and what you don't. He said that he truly believes that 'Bobby Cannon' would still be on the air today, in its 5th or 6th Season, if it made it to airing.







Then Kevin began his signing session. When I got up to him I told him that I loved him in the film Bitch Slap (some other Hercules/Xena people appeared in it). He laughed and then thanked me saying that the film was a lot of fun to make and that he really enjoyed the film a lot himself.

After he signed it he shook my hand and thanked me for coming to see him.

After now hearing what he went through, I'm truly happy I got to meet Kevin Sorbo. He truly is an inspiration.

[Marvo301]

Thanks for the report James. Kevin Sorbo sounds like a very inspiring person.