Jon Gosselin Reveals He Was Hospitalized With COVID-19

Jon Gosselin is speaking out about his close call with coronavirus. The former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star shared during a preview of Thursday’s Dr. Oz Show that he almost had to be put on a ventilator in the hospital after contracting COVID-19 and developing a 104.8-degree temperature. Taken to the hospital by girlfriend Colleen Conrad‘s daughter, things quickly got real for the reality TV personality, who is currently recovering at home

“I was in a wheelchair. I had to wait in the ER,” Gosselin said. “It was packed, like the hospital was full, and then they put me on a gurney and put me in the hallway in the waiting room, so I could get a temporary room, and then once they evaluated me and once they drew my blood and did all my blood work, all of a sudden I’m getting antibiotics, steroids and a plasma antibody transfusion for COVID. It happened really fast.”

In another preview shared by PEOPLE, Jon shared he had “really bad COVID pneumonia” based on the numbers doctors were getting back. “Now, what’s interesting is I didn’t feel it,” he explained of his symptoms. “I didn’t feel sick and I didn’t feel pain…But when you went to move or do anything and you felt so weak and you wanted to pass out, it was really scary.” Even standing to use the bathroom, he recalled feeling “fear” that he would pass out because he couldn’t breathe.

“I called the nurse and I felt guilty calling the nurse all the time. Like, ‘Can you just help me get this? Can you help me do that?’ Everything, you feel like an invalid,” Gosselin continued, adding, “You go from perfectly healthy one week, to you can’t do anything the next week. It was so weird.”

Asked if his scary experience had imbued him with a message to pass on to his estranged children with ex-wife Kate Gosselin, twin daughters Cara and Mady, 19, and sextuplets Alexis, Aaden, Joel and Leah, 16, Jon shared a hopeful message for the future. (Jon has primary custody of kids Hannah and Collin, 16.)

“Just tell them I love them and I’m just thinking of the future more. I hope they develop a relationship with Hannah and Collin,” he told Dr. Oz. “I hope that one day I can be part of your life. I’m glad that I got a second chance.” While in the hospital, Gosselin shared he was focused on “getting better and getting back to [his] family.”