Jon Gosselin Reveals Near-Death Health Scare After Coughing Up Blood Clot: ‘I Definitely Could Have Died’

Jon Gosselin knew something was seriously off when grueling pain started in his leg and eventually spread to his upper shoulder. But the moment that truly alarmed the former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star came when he woke up coughing in the middle of the night.

“I was like, ‘Something is wrong,'” the 48-year-old recalled in a Daily Mail interview published Wednesday, January 28. “I coughed up what looked like silly putty – it was a blood clot.”

What Jon did next? He admits it was incredibly dangerous. Rather than waking anyone in his household — including the two children who live with him — he got behind the wheel and drove himself to the hospital.

“If you have deep-vein thrombosis you could die at the wheel,” he admitted, calling the decision the “biggest no-no” with his condition.

Deep-vein thrombosis, or DVT, occurs when blood clots form in the deep veins of the body, typically in the legs. These clots can become life-threatening if they break loose and travel to the lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism.