 Time is just a funny thing. It really just flies by. It really does. For the benefit of those who did not hear you a year ago with us, tell us about this near-death experience you had. What happened? I had a condition called pertussis, otherwise known as whipping cough. At just the young age of three years old, I went to a playground, and as a result of whipping cough, I suffocated in all parts of my body and my brain.