While appearing on the AEW Unrestricted podcast, Jon Huber’s widow Amanda provided a timeline of his health decline in October of 2020. Here is a recap of the details courtesy of Reddit user miber3:
Monday (no specific date is given, but through process of elimination, this is likely October 19th)
On the day of Brodie Lee recording the AEW Unrestricted Podcast, he was on his Peloton bike but was unable to finish his workout, citing a shortness of breath. This was very unusual for him, and concerned about the possibility of Covid-19, Amanda took his temperature and checked his senses of taste and smell, but it all seemed normal.
Tuesday
He tried the workout again, with the same result.
Wednesday
He drove to Jacksonville for Dynamite tapings. He tested negative for Covid-19, but due to his symptoms, Doc Sampson did not feel confident allowing him inside their bubble, so he drove back home.
As a precaution, Brodie quarantined in his bedroom, away from Amanda and the kids.
Thursday
He developed a high fever. Amanda kept him hydrated but he was not eating.
Additionally, he got a nasal swab test. The results came back Sunday, and were negative.
Friday
Went to Urgent Care and was diagnosed with Bronchitis and allergies. Brodie & Amanda didn’t agree with that diagnosis. Brodie said that he felt like he had pneumonia.
He was prescribed an oral antibiotic, an oral steroid, and allergy medication.
Sunday
Was showing visible signs of distress. His face was sunken in.
They went to the hospital. He was leaning on Amanda as they were walking, as he was having trouble. Amanda told him to sit down and that they should get a wheelchair, but Brodie refused.
They took him back to triage. They checked his temperature, but at that time his fever had gone away. They checked his oxygen multiple times (with multiple machines), as they didn’t believe the result. His oxygen level was 52 (normal is ~100, an asthma attack is ~85). He was rushed back to be put on oxygen.
The doctors suspected Covid-19, and he was tested again (the third time, so far). Again, the results were negative.
Amanda notes that his health seemed to have ups and downs over this timespan. Sometimes he would seem okay, but other times he clearly wasn’t.
Wednesday
He was taken to the ICU so that they could keep a better eye on him.
At this point, various people at AEW were aware of Brodie’s health issues, as it was known that he was sent home from work. Chris Harrington in particular (a long-time friend of the Hubers) reached out to them offering their help. Amanda initially declined. This was at least in part due to Amanda wanting to keep things close to the vest, as they tended to live a private life and she did not want this to end up in the dirt sheets.
October 31st (Halloween)
The doctor told her that they needed to transfer Brodie to another hospital outside of Tampa. They opted for the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, since she knew they had some connections through AEW in Jacksonville.
The reasoning for the transfer was described as ‘a matter of life or death.’ He needed to go on an ECMO machine as well as possibly needing a lung transplant.
Brodie was still conscious at this point, but they told Amanda she shouldn’t see him now because she was clearly emotional and they worried it would just upset and make things worse for Brodie. She was told to go back home and pack a bag and come back.
As an aside, Brodie Jr wanted to be Orange Cassidy for Halloween. Amanda initially thought that was silly and that nobody would know who Orange Cassidy was, but one of Brodie’s last words were “Go buy him a f***ing denim jacket.” Amanda hand-painted a Brodie Lee costume for Nolan to wear. They were especially looking forward to this Halloween, since it was going to be Brodie’s first one home with the family.
Later That Same Day
Amanda did not want to lie to Brodie Jr and tell him that everything would be okay, but instead tried to focus on the positives: that his dad was going to the best hospital in Florida where they would try to take good care of him.
She took pictures of her boys in their costumes so that she could show them to Brodie when she got to the hospital (you can see them on Instagram here)
Just as she was about to pack her bag to go back to the hospital she received a call that he “crashed and was intubated.”
When she arrived to his hospital room she said it was “horrifying to look at.” The room was trashed and he had a tube down his throat. She had to sit in the conference room as they awaited the flight transfer. Around 1am they boarded the plane and flew to Jacksonville.
November 1st
Brodie was placed on an ECMO machine and being prepped for surgery.
Amanda had to stay at a hotel in Jacksonville. Despite wanting to handle it on her own, AEW insisted on covering the costs of the hotel.
Amanda commends the nurses and staff at the Mayo Clinic for how kind and compassionate they were – not only in helping Brodie, but in helping her and keeping her informed.
As someone who doesn’t like receiving help from others, Amanda takes a moment to talk about how she has benefitted from medication and therapy to help get her through these difficult times.
November 9th
Amanda signed paperwork to start the lung transplant process for Brodie.
Amanda came to talk to AEW. They asked her how they wanted to handle this, and she told them that she wanted to keep all of this private. She offered to speak to the locker room personally, to hopefully “guilt” them into not letting this information leak out. Both Amanda and Aubrey mention routinely checking places like Reddit to see if the information had leaked.
At some point at the Mayo Clinic he was tested for Covid-19 again. This time, via a “bronchial wash,” a method the clinic had used in the past to discover Covid cases that otherwise did not appear via traditional tests. Again, the result was negative.
November 14th (Amanda’s birthday)
The nurses had made a banner and surprised Amanda with a birthday cake.
End of November
Brodie had begun showing signs of getting better. They had performed a tracheotomy so that Brodie could be removed from the ventilator. He was able to wake up and non-verbally communicate with Amanda (smiling, mouthing words). He started physical therapy and things were looking up.
Instead of the ventilator, he was put on oxygen. Unfortunately, he suffered a panic attack, which is when things took a turn for the worse.
December
She knew there were going to be setbacks (2 steps forward, 1 step back), but in December things seemed to just continually get worse and worse.
They wanted to revisit the idea of a lung transplant. It was described to her as Brodie needing either a “lung transplant or end of life care.”
While in the hospital, Brodie got an infection in his lungs. She found out about this sometime around December 13th, her and Brodie’s wedding anniversary.
December 16th (Brodie’s birthday)
Chris Jericho flew Brodie Jr up to Jacksonville on his private jet. He got to attend a live episode of Dynamite that night, which was a big deal to him as he was such a big wrestling fan, and aside from having his dad home, was the second thing he wanted most for Christmas.
That night, Amanda was expecting to receive a phone call on the decision as to whether or not Brodie would receive a lung transplant. She didn’t hear anything, which she assumed meant it would be a “no.” This was later confirmed to the case, as it was declined by the transplant doctors, but one other doctor was adamant in wanting to exhaust every option and not give up.
December 23rd
Over the past week or so they were turned down by some other transplant centers, and still waiting to hear back from some others.
Amanda decided to go home for a few days to spend time with her kids for Christmas.
She said that she would call to check in every day, but did not want to hear from the hospital otherwise. “I don’t want to hear any bad news.”
December 24th (Christmas Eve)
Despite her requests, she received a phone call from a doctor (one she wasn’t particularly a fan of) saying that they needed to begin end of life care. At this point, Brodie’s kidneys and heart were failing. Amanda refused to come back to Jacksonville, as she was determined to spend Christmas with her children – despite the risk that she may not be there when Brodie passes.
December 25th (Christmas Day)
Some family had flown in and they tried to have a normal Christmas day, despite the obvious difficulties.
That night, along with her brother-in-law and sister-in-law they flew back to Jacksonville. The kids were staying with her mother-in-law, and drove up the next day.
She called Cody Rhodes (who had been close with Amanda throughout the whole process, and who has the experience of having a larger-than-life father pass away) and Big E (Brodie Jr’s favorite wrestler) to see if they would be willing to come to the hospital and be there when she had to tell Brodie Jr about his father’s passing.
December 26th (Brodie Lee’s passing)
Cody, Big E, Shawn Spears, Peyton Royce, Tyler Breeze, and Margaret and Megha from AEW’s PR/Legal team (who had been very supportive of Amanda throughout this ordeal – the former who had brought food to her hotel room and the latter who invited her to Thanksgiving dinner) all came to the hospital to say goodbye to Brodie.
Cody, Big E, and Amanda went back to the hotel to talk to Brodie Jr about his father’s passing.
The official cause of death was determined to be “idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.” The term “idiopathic” is used when the cause of a disease is not known. “Pulmonary fibrosis” is a scarring of the lungs. She is still awaiting a full autopsy report, which could provide additional insight.
December 30th (Brodie Lee Celebration of Life)
No official service was held for Brodie, due to Covid-19.
“AEW’s celebration of life – that was his funeral.”
“The outpouring of love from the wrestling community has been unreal.”
She didn’t want to watch the tribute video beforehand, so she saw it for the first time while she was in the ring. Her response to Jess Palombo, who produced it: “It was perfect, it was beautiful, and seriously you can go f*** yourself.” (note that this was said with a laugh, as Amanda is someone who doesn’t like to cry but that video ‘broke her’)
“I get really, really f***ing angry if I see anybody who’s like, ‘Oh, they’re exploiting the family.’ No, they’re going above and beyond to let an 8-year old live his favorite thing in the world, and have his connection with his dad.”
For full disclosure, Amanda was the one who asked to do the podcast, to hopefully clear the air and help provide some insight.
There’s been talk of -1 doing a future podcast along with Preston Vance.
Note: I just want to reiterate how often and how passionately Amanda commended the nurses she worked with for all of the great things that they do. On multiple occasions she specifically mentioned Penny, Barb, and Jill from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville (the latter of which she was so happy to see on the day that Brodie passed that it was one of the handful or so times that she cried throughout this ordeal), as well as Danny from AdventHealth in Tampa. Additionally, AEW’s Margaret Stalvey & Megha Parekh (through the recommendation of Chris & Alissa Harrington) were like “guardian angels” and mentioned numerous times. Also, she spoke particularly fondly of Cody Rhodes and Chris Jericho.
