Stephen A. Smith says he was could have DIED after being hospitalized with COVID-19

Stephen A. Smith delved into his frightening bout with COVID-19 over the New Year’s holiday when he returned to ESPN’s First Take on Monday.

The 54-year-old sports commentator kicked off his return to set by revealing that he feared he might day after he was hospitalized with a 103-degree fever and double pneumonia.

‘I didn’t know if I was going to make it,’ Smith said, adding that his doctors told him he might have died from the serious illness if he hadn’t been vaccinated.

As the sports fixture began to share his tail, he repeatedly interrupted himself to cough and clear his throat, though he noted that he was now negative for COVID-19.

‘You’re assuming that you’ll have a fever, might have a cough, gonna have that massive headache — but you’ll get over it,’ he said, after noting that people can have different reactions to the coronavirus. ‘In a lot of cases that was the case. In my case it was totally different.

‘I had 103-degree fever every night. Woke up with chills and a pool of sweat. Headaches were massive. Coughing profusely,’ he continued. 

‘And it got to a point where right before New Year’s Eve, I was in the hospital into New Year’s Day. That’s how I brought in the New Year.’

Extreme condition: ‘I had 103-degree fever every night. Woke up with chills and a pool of sweat. Headaches were massive. Coughing profusely,’ he said of his symptoms. ‘And it got to a point where right before New Year’s Eve, I was in the hospital into New Year’s Day’

Inoculated: He added, ‘They told me, had I not been vaccinated, I wouldn’t be here. That’s how bad I was’

He added, ‘They told me, had I not been vaccinated, I wouldn’t be here. That’s how bad I was.’

Smith said he developed pneumonia in both lungs, and that his bought with the illness also damaged his liver. 

‘It had ravaged me to the point where even now I have monitor my volume — get to the gym every day, walk before you run. Work your way back because I’m still not 100 percent with my lungs, but I’m COVID negative. I’m on the road to recovery,’ he explained.

Smith added that he ‘wouldn’t be here’ if it hadn’t been for the team of doctors helping him recover.

He used his near-death experience to advocate for viewers to get fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, as his doctors cited it as what kept him alive.

‘The vaccine, according to [my doctors] saved me,’ he said.

Smith noted that ‘everybody’s different,’ and mentioned his sister, who is a smoker but had recovered from COVID-19 within a matter of days.

Long recovery ahead: Smith noted he got double pneumonia and suffered liver damage, and he still wasn’t ‘100 percent’ when it came to lung functioning

Safety first: ‘I think the one thing to emphasize the importance of, no matter how you feel about the vaccine, that mask is important,’ he warned his viewers; seen in November 2021 in Boston

‘Me? I don’t smoke and it almost took me out,’ the host continued.  

He also cited proper mask wearing as essential to combat the pandemic. 

‘I think the one thing to emphasize the importance of, no matter how you feel about the vaccine, that mask is important,’ he said. ‘The reason why the mask is so important is you don’t know how the next person is affected. How I’m affected is different from you are affected.’

He urged his fans to ‘think about your fellow man and woman, not just yourself, when it comes to this.’ 

Smith noted that he took more sick days in the past month than he had throughout his ’28-year career in this business combined,’ even though he was ‘ecstatic’ to be back to work.

‘I can’t tell you how lucky and sincerely blessed I am to be sitting here with you guys today, because two-and-a-half, three weeks ago, I didn’t know if I was going to make it,’ he concluded his introduction before getting down to business.

He seemed to be more sprightly later in the broadcast when he whipped out a cowboy hat and grabbed a cigar to gloat about the Dallas Cowboys’ season-ending loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Back to normal: He seemed to be more sprightly later in the broadcast when he whipped out a cowboy hat and grabbed a cigar to gloat about the Dallas Cowboys’ season-ending loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday