Ricky Skaggs, 66, knew something was wrong when he experienced chest tightness and shortness of breath. He thought it could be due to stress, acid reflux, or something that is far more serious.
In June, Skaggs and his wife, Sharon White, were set to travel to North Carolina to visit their son Luke and his wife Rosemary as they prepped for the birth of their new baby,” according to PEOPLE. However, just a day before, Skaggs’ doctor advised him to get an angiogram done to address his symptoms.
In a recent interview with PEOPLE, the country singer said, “Scripture tells us God always knows the thoughts of man. That was proven to me at that moment, because while I did not speak it from my mouth, I thought about putting the angiogram off for a week.”
“When I thought that thought, it was like I saw the Lord with a jeweler’s eye glass on,” he added. “He was peering at me but never said a word. But just by His look, I knew He was saying, ‘Absolutely no.’ It put the fear of God in me. He had given me so many grace situations, but He was serious that I needed to take care of this now.”
Four days later, Skaggs had to undergo a quadruple bypass on his heart at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, per PEOPLE.
Skaggs said, “I have thanked the Lord hundreds of times that I wasn’t out in the middle of Texas on a tour bus, miles away from a hospital.”
The 15-time GRAMMY award-winner added, “It was a major blessing I didn’t have a heart attack. Nothing was hurt, and nothing was destroyed or irreparable. It was just by the mercy and grace of God that all of this happened in this way.”
Skaggs said the first half of 2020 was difficult because he had a number of symptoms that were indicating him to give his health a priority.
“God gives us grace, but we all have a tendency to kick in the boundaries of that grace,” the Heartbroke singer explained. “Sometimes, we are like a bull running through the fence of grace. But then, there comes a time when He has to come after us. I knew that I couldn’t stand in the shadows of my heart situation anymore. I had been fearful of a heart attack or getting a stent put in all of this time, but now, I was in a corner. I had to address it.”
Hours after the bypass surgery on June 15, Skaggs checked in with his heart surgeon Dr. Sreekumar “Kumar” Subramanian.
The Country Boy singer recalled, “He [the doctor] told me that when he was finished with the bypasses, he literally was holding my heart in his hand, and my heart literally leapt in his hands when the blood started flowing through it again. I just started bawling. It was the most incredible thing I have ever heard in my life.”
Skaggs said now he feels not just 100%, but 150% better than he once did after undergoing the procedure. He walks without getting winded and works to strengthen his heart muscle. He told PEOPLE, “Don’t put off tomorrow what you can do today. That surgery gave me a brand-new heart. Not only a real heart, but a spiritual heart that has now been cleaned out, so I can hear Him better than ever before.”
