Ty Pennington details lessons learned from serious health scare

It was just last summer that popular HGTV personality Ty Pennington found himself in a hospital's intensive are unit for a frightening – and unexpected – health concern, and he is now sharing the insights and philosophy he gained from the experience, as Entertainment Weekly reports.

Pennington's recent revelations have given fans new clarity on just how serious his condition truly was, and the well-known DIY expert delivered just the sort of update for which his admirers surely hoped.

The longtime TV host's health situation began to unfold last July when he attended the much-awaited Los Angeles premiere of the Barbie feature film and rose very early the next morning to catch a flight to Colorado for work.

However, he immediately felt short of breath and sought medical attention in hopes of swiftly treating the issue.

Fairly soon after, Pennington informed fans via Instagram post of the very serious affliction that necessitated such dramatic intervention, and which clearly caught him by surprise.

“Turns out, that sore throat I've had for the last month was actually an abscess which had grown so large it was closing off my airway,” he wrote.

The entire situation, he said, was “A great reminder to LISTEN to your body when it's telling you something.”

Now 59 years of age, Pennington recently gave an interview to Entertainment Tonight in which he opened up about the way in which his health scare has changed his outlook on life for the better.

“I'm great. You know what's great is if you almost die, you get so much attention,” he joked. “It feels so nice to be that loved. I'm planning another one...No, I'm kidding!”

The home improvement guru noted that he initially attempted to downplay his symptoms so that he could rush off to his next professional engagement, saying to a doctor, “Hey, can you give me a steroid to help shrink the swelling?”

That is when the physician drove home the severity of what was happening, asking Pennington, “What if it's more than that? What if you close up and can't breathe?”

Once he had undergone surgery and was on the road to recovery, Pennington began to internalize the true message he believes the entire scenario was meant to teach him.

“It made me realize, you just don't know when your timecard's gonna get pulled, so wake up, live every single day to the fullest,” he said.

Pennington went on, “I mean that's why the 60s is gonna be like time to start doing everything, and that's what I love about being part of these projects, because I think we all want to make sure we've doine things to be remembered,” and that is a sentiment with which most people can truly relate.