Amy Grant has had a rough few years to stay the least. The singer had to undergo open heart surgery and also suffered a brain injury all in the past four years.
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Now, she's speaking out about how these two health emergencies have changed her outlook on life. Back in 2020, she underwent heart surgery after doctors realized she had a rare heart defect called PAPVR (partial anomalous pulmonary venous return).
I always saw myself living well into my nineties. My great-grandmother lived to be 94. She was sharp in the mind," she told People. "To realize something can happen that you never see coming, and it could be over...everything became more precious."
She only learned about it after her husband Vince Gill experienced shortness of breath and went to get checked out. The doctor suggested she get checked out too.
She explained, "after giving Vince the 'great' news, 'You're just fat and out of shape' — and Vince said, 'Tell me something I don't know!' — the doctor looked at me and said, 'I want to see you.'"
Grant said she basically had a ticking time bomb in her chest. Previously, she knew she had a high heart rate. "I just learned to push through because that's what women do," she says. "I was one of those women who's like, 'I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm the Energizer Bunny,' and then I just would've died. And I'm not ready to die."
Amy Grant Talks Health Scares
After having heart surgery, she committed herself to staying fit. "I was probably in the best shape I had been in in a long time, maybe 20 years," Grant says. Fast forward two years, and she hit a pothole while riding a bike. She ended up sustaining a brain injury as a result.
Grant experienced memory issues as a result.
"I would just say, 'What if I'm never all the way back?' Because my processing was so slow. I could be in the room with people, but I didn't have a comeback," she says.
Her health scares have change dher outlook on life.
"I'm finding a different balance between music and family and just trying to be a lot more involved, as my adult children will allow it," she says. "This has made us all look at each other with a kind of appreciation. I think being together maybe was a little bit on autopilot, and it doesn't feel that way now."
