Mark Bell's Power Project - Power Project EP. 60 - CT Flethcer
Episode Date: May 29, 2018An unexpected phone call from CT Fletcher right after leaving the hospital from heart replacement surgery. Rewatch the Live Stream: https://youtu.be/db9NLIN6nco ➢SHOP NOW: https://markbellslingshot....com/ Enter Discount code, "POWERPROJECT" at checkout and receive 15% off all Sling Shots ➢Subscribe Rate & Review on iTunes at: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mark-bells-power-project/id1341346059?mt=2 ➢Listen on Stitcher Here: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/mark-bells-power-project?refid=stpr ➢Listen on Google Play here: https://play.google.com/music/m/Izf6a3gudzyn66kf364qx34cctq?t=Mark_Bells_Power_Project ➢Listen on SoundCloud Here: https://soundcloud.com/markbellspowerproject FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell Follow The Power Project Podcast ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MarkBellsPowerProject Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz
Transcript
Discussion (0)
impromptu podcast ladies and gentlemen
all right mark we're live all right we hopped on mark bell's power project
uh to uh talk to ct fletcher this is an impromptu podcast i already did a podcast
they already lifted today but i was on my way out the door and got a text message from the
old man. He said that he's been released from the hospital. He had a heart replacement surgery. I
don't know nothing about that. So I want to find out about, you know, some of the procedure he went
through. And, uh, you know, this guy has been called and called Compton Superman, and maybe
he really truly is a Superman. Um, I'm very fortunate
to know him. He's become a good friend over the years. And, uh, I really hope that he's able to
come out of this strong and how cool would it be to see this guy back in the gym, uh, motivating
people and pushing people, uh, the way that only CT Fletcher can. So, uh, we're going to give him
a call. I can assure you that this is going to, uh,cher can. So we're going to give him a call.
I can assure you that this is going to totally work.
So for those of you that are watching live, this is just the way things go sometimes.
So he said to give him a call.
I'm sure he's like pretty damn busy and trying to be on the mend.
And so we're going to try to call him and hopefully we're able to make contact with
him.
So let's see what happens.
If not, I'll just look like an asshole.
Right?
I'm getting nervous.
Hello?
Hello, you old bastard.
How the hell are you doing, sir?
This is amazing to get you on the phone, man.
I'm so grateful and so thankful that you're doing well.
Oh, my. That's fantastic.
That is amazing news.
How are you doing?
Like, how are you doing right now?
Did you just get released from the hospital, you said?
I got released yesterday after spending the last 17 days there.
And they let me come back for three more months here at the Navy Lodge to recover,
make sure there's no rejection, and make sure everything is going good.
And after that, I can go back to Long Beach.
When you get heart replacement surgery, I would imagine there's a point where you're dead, right?
Yeah, they keep you alive with a machine during the surgery.
And yeah, there's a heart.
Yeah, but I can tell you what, Smelly.
I know what it feels like to actually die.
And not during the operation, not during the surgery,
but, I mean, just like I'm talking to you right now,
I know what it feels like to die in the middle of a conversation.
Wow.
It's a lot different.
It's a lot different.
It ain't like training or passing out or dozing off.
It's a lot more permanent than any dozing.
And you know it's permanent.
That is pretty wild.
Now, you kind of, quote unquote, died a couple times, right?
Yeah, well, I sat on it three times during my first open-heart surgery.
Wow.
But since then, since I've been waiting for this part,
they installed a pacemaker.
And if it wasn't for that pacemaker and God
of course
I was
sitting there talking to my wife
and one minute
the next minute
it was just like somebody pulled the plug
and one of those old black and white
TV sets
and I could feel life
leaving my, and I could feel life leaving my body.
Wow.
And I could feel it.
I knew it.
It was over.
And all I had a chance to say was her name.
I could see it deep, and it was black.
And then I woke up, and I thought that I had been out for a couple hours because I was
completely rested.
It was the best sleep that I've ever had
because it wasn't regular sleep.
It was death sleep, man.
And you don't know what sleep is.
You think you know what sleep is,
but there's no other sleep like death.
And so she told me it was only too many.
But it felt like two hours.
And if it wasn't for that, you know, kicking me back to life or shocking me back to life,
I wouldn't be talking to you right now.
And that's two times.
Marching Ellie Bell twice.
I had to two times march an alley bell, twice.
Once while I was in the hospital and once at home while I was in the hospital.
And they were running tests on me.
Same thing happened.
Life set my body.
And it was over. And they shot me back to life with my pacemaker or whatever you want to call it,
shocked me back to life again.
I'm in shock right now that we're actually talking.
I mean, I remember, you know, when you were going through this
and I was threatening to come up there and visit you whether you liked it or not
and you wouldn't let me.
But, you know, you were like, hey, smelly, no big deal, man.
I'm going to see you in the gym, you know, before you know it.
And I was like, wow.
That's exactly right.
You know, the reason I felt like that, Smelly,
because I remember being there when my mom passed away from heart problems
and when my brother passed away from heart problems.
Everybody, you know, people I hadn't seen in years,
this wouldn't be your view,
but people I hadn't seen in years came to see my mother,
they came to see my brother.
And, you know, I would hear them say,
this might be the last chance that I get to see them.
So I want to see them, you know, one last time.
Yeah, it made sense. You wanted to be, you wanted to be with your family more so than, uh,
just, just a couple of buddies that, you know, from lifting. I got it.
Hey, um, you know, how important, obviously your family, uh, played a huge role in this and I was
checking in with your son and checking in to see how he was doing.
What role has the family played
in keeping C.T. Fletcher going?
That's my super support system.
My original cheerleaders,
the ones who have been there with me
from the beginning,
they know everything.
They've been here through the good
and the bad.
Before anybody
knew
what you were,
they loved you
and they still love you.
So,
that's my
super support system
right there.
What about the fans?
What have the fans
have been believing in you
and they've been
behind you as well?
Well,
I cannot tell you
what that support
meant to me. I got
well-wishers from all
over the world
and
it was one, I'll tell
you this,
I am so far
from Superman, it ain't even funny but i got you know i i pride
myself on my faith and when you do that your faith will be tested i guarantee you your faith
will be tested and my face was severely tested.
And when it was tested, Mark Smiley
Bell, one of my nurses
brought in four
pages of
messages from Instagram
that people asked me
if she took the time
to type out these four pages
of messages from well
wishes on Instagram.
Wow.
And I tell you what, when I read those messages, I said,
there's no fucking way on this earth I will ever let anyone be people that never.
That's right.
Man, that is just a really, I mean, that's amazing that she did that.
There's always somebody that kind of comes and, you know, says something or does something.
And it's like you got an angel on your side to keep you going.
Oh, yeah.
oh yeah if you got if you remember the story of when the doctor told me the first time during my first open-eyed surgery uh he was like uh aren't you seeking questions yeah what happened to you
yeah well let me tell you what i i got another one i got another doctor to top that guy.
Oh, shit.
And I was...
He hit me for a loop, man.
He tried to knock me for a loop.
I'm telling you.
My face was...
He tested the shit out of my face.
What did he say to you?
Same thing, kind of?
Oh, man.
He said,
you think you're doing pretty good
and i and i said yes compared to the last time i think i'm doing very well you said you're not
and you said you're doing what you know about what everybody else does. And he told me that the heart that they put in you is too small for you.
It's too small.
It's not a good shit.
And, you know, and other bad things that I'm not going to talk about right now.
I've got a whole lot of bad news for me.
But I say, you know what?
I say, Nick, he fucked me up.
I'm telling you, Mark.
Mark, he fucked me up for a moment.
He fucked me up.
I thought I was doing really well because I was up and talking.
And it took a week before anybody could understand what I was saying after my last surgery.
But I was up and talking and even stood up under my all power.
And I couldn't do that for weeks after the first surgery.
So he did expect to shoot me down.
But I, you know, I see him the next day and I said, everything happens for a reason.
everything happens for a reason.
And it could not,
it could not have been easy for me.
Everything you described,
it had to be like that.
It just had to be like that.
And the reason it has to be like that is because I can tell everybody now
if it was easy,
if I got an 18-year-old guy's heart, an Olympic athlete's heart,
he knows what he's supposed to be doing.
He's supposed to be doing great.
But if I got a little tiny, undersized heart, and I come back and I show how powerful God is,
that's exactly how it's supposed to be.
If it was easy, then it wouldn't be no miracle.
So I had to get that other side part,
Martin Snelly Bell. There was no choice.
17 days in the hospital, you know,
talking about it like in passing or a couple years from now or whatever it is, when someone hears 17 days, it doesn't sound, you know, a little over two weeks doesn't sound like a long time.
But that must have been a really rough time for you and that must have been a really rough time for your family.
17 days for a heart transplant is not that long.
That's true.
is not that long.
That's true.
I spent the first time after the other surgery,
I spent three months and had to go back for another two months.
I spent the better part of a year after my first open-eye surgery in the hospital.
Damn, yeah, my dad did a 70.
My dad went in for 70 days at one point, and that was like, that just crushed our family.
It was really hard, but, you know, we were able to rally around him and keep him afloat,
and he's still with us, you know?
He's always checking in on you.
What's next? What's the next kind of things you got to go through now? on the planet, man. He's always checking in on you. Yes, he is. He's always praying for me.
What's next?
What's the next kind of things you got to go through now?
How do you get back
home and stuff?
I got three more months
up here
and that's just
they have to
closely monitor you.
Like, you know,
I'm always going in
for tests
to make sure
that there's no rejection of the new heart.
But I want to share this with you, Martin, before you have to go.
And that little too small heart that that doctor told me about, he told me about that on day 12 that I spent in the hospital.
on day 12 that I sent him to the hospital.
By day 17,
five days later,
five days later,
that too small heart
is already
the size it's supposed to be.
Damn.
Already.
Yeah, that's awesome.
You know, I texted you and I said,
you know, when you go through this heart transplant,
it's going to be the first time in your life that you have a human heart because you've
had a heart of a lion your entire life.
And it's been really cool to see you be able to fight through all these things, man.
It's been amazing.
I didn't do nothing.
I didn't do a thing, Mark Sparrowbill.
And I am nothing.
I didn't do nothing.
I didn't do a thing, Mark Spendlill.
And I am nothing.
I give all the credit goes to some mighty fine doctors and the good Lord above.
That's why I get a credit chip.
And a bunch of mighty fine nurses.
Those nurses are doctors.
I don't know what I would do without them.
I can't thank them enough.
And the good Lord. Did you have any hot nurses by any chance?
You know, I had one nurse that I put on Instagram.
She was the one that walked with me the first time I walked after surgery.
And I got a few comments saying, put me up here.
I'm trying to leave.
Well, you know, hopefully, uh, hopefully you'll let me come visit you.
I'd love to come, uh, love to come see you and give you a big fat hug.
Uh, next week.
Okay.
Will you come next week?
I can, I can.
I'd love to see you, man.
It'd be great.
Uh, so good to hear from you. I'd love to see you, man. It'd be great.
So good to hear from you.
I'm so glad that you're doing well.
And, man, I just, I just, I'm grateful that we're friends. And I'm truly grateful and very appreciative that you're doing so well.
Yeah, I am grateful too, Mark Snowdale.
I want to thank you, man.
I'm grateful too, Mark Snowdale.
I want to thank you, man, because I know that you just wanted to come because you love my old man.
But I told you, I'll see you after.
I'll see you here at home.
I'll see you around to do a whole lot of crazy shit together.
That's right.
And now I'm screwed because you're still alive and I got to come visit you.
Yeah.
All right, CT.
I love you, buddy, man.
Thank you so much.
Appreciate your time, bud.
All right, man.
Have a great day.
I will.
I will.
Have a great day.
Bye.
You too.
Bye-bye.
That was some pretty wild shit, huh?
Dude. I mean, from texting him to, to hey let's get on the phone yeah what a savage it's it's it's so fucking cool to hear him dude like just to hear him speaking you know like he's he's still himself
yeah he's well he remembers a lot of stuff that happened you know years ago and stuff too so that's
that's a really good sign yeah that's great. I'm glad we were able to do that.
Fucking modern technology is crazy.
Like how,
like how is he still,
I mean,
I know he's got a long way to go,
you know,
I mean,
I'm sure he's got bruises and stitches and like,
you know,
he's got,
I'm sure he has a long way to go.
Right.
But just even that is just,
uh,
even that's just crazy.
The fact that he's up and moving around and,
um, the fact that we're able to, you know, get in a full conversation The fact that he's up and moving around and, um, the fact
they were able to, you know, get in a full conversation with him and he's remembering
stuff from years ago and just fucking awesome. Yeah. But it shows, you know, like, uh, being
positive can be, it can be a huge thing, you know? And I, like you said, his faith was tested a lot.
And, um, you know, luckily for him, he, he had his son around him and other family members to
kind of keep him, uh, keep him going. And then, you know, he him he had his son around him and other family members to kind of
keep him uh keep him going and then you know he ultimately says a lot of stuff that he heard from
fans you know help pull them pull them out of some uh bad days 17 days you know he's kind of
under playing it but that's that's kind of a long time and he mentioned before though being in for
like three months so i guess in comparison it's uh comparison, it's not that long of a time.
Anyway, I'm really proud that here at the Power Project,
thank you, Andrew, for being able to throw this together last second.
I'm really proud that we were able to give this news to the Internet,
give this news to the world that C.T. Fletcher is doing well.
The crazy bastard is uh
is uh is free he's on the mend he's going to be recovering and uh you know youtube you better get
ready because this motherfucker's coming back ct fletcher it's still your motherfucking set i love
you and uh thanks for giving us a phone call catch you later buddy catch everybody later see you i'm
out