LPBW’s Zach and Tori Roloff Recall How He ‘Almost Died’ Before Brain Surgery Last Year

Zach Roloff is getting candid about a health scare that left him hospitalized in the ICU.

The Little People, Big World star and his wife Tori Roloff revealed on their Raising Heights podcast that Zach, 33, faced a major medical emergency when a shunt, which was placed in his brain to drain fluid down to his stomach, failed.

Zach explained that he had gone through shunt revision surgery when he was younger and thought he had not been dependent on it anymore, but that wasn’t the case. He said he noticed signs that something was wrong when he started having migraines on and off for about 10 years before finally checking in to a hospital — which led to a frightening moment for the family.

“It’s been a year since Zach almost died,” Tori, 32, shared on the podcast. “I get woken up that morning at 2 a.m., 4 a.m. and this nurse goes, ‘Your husband’s getting moved to ICU.’ I fled in a panic to ICU.”

“And when I got to you — Zach was there yelling my name,” Tori told her husband. “And so I’m like ‘Oh my gosh he’s dying like this is it.’”

Tori explained when she got to his room that the doctors “were manually draining the fluid” from his brain. When there is a shunt blockage, extra fluid can build up in the brain causing pressure on the brain, which could lead to brain damage, according to the National Institute of Health.

“You were still in so much pain,” Tori told her husband. “Your heart rate started dropping.”

The pair noted that doctors determined that Zach needed to go into surgery immediately. Tori recalled being told that they were going to do an “exploratory surgery” and that they didn’t know what they were “going to find.”

She said, “There [were] a lot of unknowns” at the time. However, the doctors were eventually able to determine the cause. “And so they went in [my brain] and they replaced the shunt,” Zach said.

Zach Roloff after brain surgery for a shunt revision. ZACH ROLOFF/INSTAGRAM
The couple noted that Zach had previously gone to doctors to get his migraine checked and had MRI’s done, but the scar tissue from previous shunt surgeries prevented them from seeing the issue.

“I really feel like with spinal stuff, fluids, shunts and of those issues, the brain, headache, the idea of a migraine… it’s hard to pinpoint sometimes,” Zach admitted. Though he added that he was relieved to have finally solved the issue.

“We’re up on a year on that and I haven’t had a migraine since then,” Zach shared.