Matthew Perry Opens Up About Near-Death Experience From Opioid Overuse: 'I Had a 2 Percent Chance to Live'
etonline.comMatthew Perry is telling all in a new memoir, sharing details about a near-death experience he faced just a few years ago as a result of his battle with addiction. «I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side of everything again,» he says in a new cover story for. «I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober -- and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction -- to write it all down.
And the main thing was, I was pretty certain that it would help people.»In his book — , out Nov. 1 — Perry recalls suffering a gastrointestinal perforation at age 49 when his colon burst from opioid overuse.
The 53-year-old star fought for his life, spending two weeks in a coma and five months in the hospital, and had to use a colostomy bag for nine months. «The doctors told my family that I had a two percent chance to live,» he tells. «I was put on a thing called an ECMO machine, which does all the breathing for your heart and your lungs.
And that's called a Hail Mary. No one survives that.»The fact that he survive it weighs on Perry. «There were five people put on an ECMO machine that night and the other four died and I survived,» he says. «So the big question is why?
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