After Near-Fatal Heart Attack, Deerfield Native Arkush 'Surviving'

DEERFIELD, IL — Patience has never come easy for Hub Arkush, especially when waiting keeps him away from two of the things that drive him most: the NFL and his life’s work covering pro football.

But considering everything that the longtime Deerfield native and veteran NFL broadcaster has endured over the past four months, the fact he is still here to have work he loves to return to when his health allows perhaps makes waiting to get back at a little more bearable.

Arkush doesn’t remember the worst of the ordeal that unexpectedly threw himself and his family on a life-changing journey that hasn’t yet reached a destination. He doesn’t remember collapsing on his way to his car at Halas Hall, the Chicago Bears practice facility in Lake Forest, where Arkush has been a staple covering the team for more than four decades. He doesn’t remember the frantic efforts to save his life after — as he has been told — his heart stopped for a period of time before a member of the Bears security team performed CPR for 20 minutes before first responders could arrive to take over and rush Arkush to a local hospital, the Chicago Sun-Times reported last week.

Arkush doesn’t remember the heart attack he suffered and the seven-hour surgery that followed that made repairs to his heart and that put him on this long road to recovery and that kept him hospitalized for 2 ½ months. But, at age 69, Arkush believes that it is probably for the best that his memory doesn’t allow him to recall the details of that day in August when a routine trip to Halas Hall turned into anything but normal.

He knows only what he has been told by doctors and therapists, who have walked Arkush slowly but gradually through the past four months. That too is probably for the best, Arkush says. But he knows enough to realize that what happened that day in Lake Forest has put things into a different perspective, starting with perhaps the bleakest of details that his doctors chose to reveal.

“The short version is that I was dead for a little while,” Arkush told Patch on Monday.

But, Arkush added: “I’m surviving and that’s all I care about.”

Arkush, who is one of the hosts of the “Pro Football Weekly” television show and the senior member of the Chicago Bears media beat, returned to the air briefly last week in his first TV appearance since before his heart attack in August. While Arkush said he won’t be able to return to a full work schedule of TV and radio appearances for close to two months, he used last week’s trip to a Chicago TV studio to say thank you to those who have reached out and offered well-wishes for a return to health.

But he also used the brief on-camera appearance to also convey an important message to his audience. He’s not going anywhere.

While Arkush’s return last week gave him the chance to again sit shoulder-to-shoulder with his co-hosts, former Bears star Dan Hampton, former Bears and NFL coach Dave Wannstedt, his son Arthur and studio host Pat Boyle, it wasn’t as emotional as it was for those around him. Instead, it was more about getting back to business, although it may not be at the level he wished it was. But if the past months have taught Arkush anything, it’s that progress can be slow and frustrating at times, as difficult as it is to swallow.

But for those who know him best, the fact he is here is all that matters.

“It’s been such a long road,” Arthur Arkush told Patch on Monday. “It’s been four months, but it might as well have been four decades, it feels like.”

Arthur Arkush has watched his father’s recovery up close and personal and has endured an emotional roller coaster in recent months, along with his mother and siblings. His father says that the months-long ordeal has been way harder on his family, friends, and his loved ones than it has been on him, which — considering everything that he has gone through — is certainly saying something.

There were times, Arthur Arkush said, when his father couldn’t remember his own name, let alone those of his immediate family. The heart attack had done enough damage to affect Hub Arkush’s memory and ability to speak, both of which have improved in therapy sessions since the medical emergency.

Arkush, who also spent several weeks at Shirley Ryan Ability Lab after he was released from the hospital, says he looks forward to returning to as much of a normal life as he can. His doctors still aren’t certain whether he will ever fully recover from the health scare that nearly ended his life, but they see progress as Arkush continues to heal.

He still goes through therapy to correct some of the issues that the heart attack took a toll on. At times, the treatment is arduous and difficult, which causes frustration for Arkush, who struggles with waiting, referring to himself as the "least patient person you could ever meet."

Arkush, who now lives in suburban Tower Lakes, didn’t start watching football again until about five weeks ago. Arthur Arkush says watching the Bears-Washington Commanders game — a 12-7 Bears loss on Monday Night Football — was emotional as he watched his father again soak in a game that has been such a big part of his life.

But what amazed Arthur and his brother was how quickly the small nuances of the game that often go unnoticed by the casual fan came back so quickly to his father. In what was one of the more forgettable performances of what has been a losing season that continues to be more about the development of quarterback Justin Fields than wins and losses, Hub Arkush remembers telling his son that he would rather return to the hospital than watch the rest of the game.

At that moment, Arthur Arkush knew his dad was moving closer to being his old self. But he, like the rest of his family, knows more time and work are required before Hub is back at 100 percent.

Hub Arkush realizes he’s not yet 100 percent. Doctors won’t allow him to drive or return to a full work schedule for probably close to two months, he said. Arkush will miss covering his first Super Bowl in 45 years, which he says he will miss, but knows that being away from the game is all part of his road to recovery.

Through it all, Arkush has relied on his family to hold him up emotionally. Arthur Arkush said that the family’s tight-knit nature and positivity through the entire ordeal have been critical to keeping spirits up, as Hub Arkush sometimes struggled with a journey that didn’t always have a clearly defined destination. Through it all, fans and friends constantly reached out, wishing Arkush the best – a level of support and concern that he and his family remain amazed by.

“We needed that,” Arthur Arkush said Monday. “It was such a long process – 6-7 weeks until he was safely out of surgery — and there were times to be honest that we didn’t have a lot to go on other than to know we needed that positivity. There were certain times we were looking for things and ensuring that we had that (positivity). So, it was instrumental for sure.”

When he’s ready and when his doctors say he’s ready, Hub Arkush knows the work he loves so much will be there waiting for him. How he approaches it, perhaps, will just be a little bit different. But the important thing is that he will be around to get back to what he loves. His son knows how his father is wired and knows what his life’s work means to him. But the months-long ordeal has also brought about lessons for everyone involved.

“You learn a lot with something like this, and I’d like to think that I’ve learned about what’s important,” Hub Arkush told Patch.

“I do love what I do, and I haven’t really worried about not getting to do it again … (But the waiting) is difficult. I’m not going to lie, it’s hard. What I went through is hard, and it’s hard for people to get their arms around. But what’s hard for people to understand is that I’m still me, and I am coming back and there are a lot of things I can still do and do still remember.”

All that’s left now for Arkush is a little more waiting. But deep down, he knows that as difficult as patience is for him, it will be worth it in the long run.