LSU’s season may be hanging by a thread, but the bigger story around the program this week has nothing to do with the scoreboard.
Ed Orgeron is back with the Tigers after a frightening health scare that left him hospitalized for more than two weeks before the season. In a video posted by Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, the longtime LSU figure opened up about just how serious things got - and how close he came to not making it through.
“I was about to die, and they saved my life,” Orgeron said. “And I’m very, very grateful for that. Not only that night, but all through my recovery, these guys have been great.”
Orgeron said the care didn’t stop once he left the hospital, either. Doctors continued checking on him at home as he recovered, and he made clear how much that meant to him.
“We talk about family. One team, one heartbeat,” Orgeron said.
“Our Lady of the Lake got the best family of doctors I’ve ever seen in my life. ... These guys are unbelievable.
They go far and beyond. But you know what?
I’m happy to be here. I’m happy to represent the Tigers.”
For LSU, getting Orgeron back on the sideline has clearly meant a lot. Head coach Lane Kiffin said the reunion carried real weight for both men.
“It was awesome,” Kiffin said. “He came to me after and said how appreciative he was that I brought him back and how special that was for him.
He never knew whether he would walk out there again, you know, and hadn’t been back here in the years in between. And so, to kind of mend that, and I love that I was able to be a part of that.”
The timing adds another layer to a difficult year in Baton Rouge. LSU enters Saturday’s home game against Texas with its College Football Playoff hopes on the brink of ending, and the Tigers have struggled through a disappointing first season under Kiffin. But Orgeron’s return has shifted the focus to something far bigger than football, even if only for a moment.
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