We send best wishes to Dutch Mantell, who is dealing with health issues. On the WSI YouTube channel, Dutch Mantell’s co-host James Romero gave an update on Dutch:
“Dutch needs your help. In 2015, Dutch broke his femur in two places in somewhat of a freak accident. He was just stretching and somehow he fell and broke his leg. So when he returned to WWE on a motorized scooter in the Alberto Del Rio managing days, that really wasn’t a gimmick. He genuinely needed the scooter and still does. After almost dying from the surgery required to fix his leg, his mobility has been severely hampered to the point that in the past couple of years, getting around his own house unaided has been down near impossible, and as a result, further health complications have arisen. In late 2023 Dutch was hospitalized due to sepsis and had to spend a month in hospital in a rehab facility. Now once again in the late summer, Dutch once again contracted a urinary tract infection, which is usually caused by a bladder or kidney infection, and then that infection in turn developed into Urosepsis, which is a life threatening medical emergency, and proved to be so in Dutch’s case. From there, Dutch then developed pneumonia and has once again had to endure another full month in various medical facilities and rehab facilities as well. All this while Hurricane Helene and Milton ravaged the east coast of Florida, including the Greater Tampa area, which is where Dutch and family live. The good news is that Dutch has started pulling through and has managed to finally return home.”
“While Dutch has been suffering through yet another life threatening bout of septicemia and pneumonia, his wife of over 50 years, Kathy was suffering even worse. Since May, she has been hospitalized nearly a dozen times, and since May, she’s also lost around 70 pounds as a result of incredibly serious issues, including sepsis as well as I believe diverticulitis. This past week, she’s had to have a bowel resectioning operation, which essentially saw surgeons cut out a large portion of a bowel out completely and then sew the remaining portions back together. Not only was the surgery very high risk, the recovery period is long, slow and painful as well. Because Dutch and Kathy both require assistance, their daughter, Amanda, has had to take leave from work to look after them both full time, and she’s also at breaking point, as I’m sure you can imagine, and surviving on little sleep to make sure her parents are well looked after. All of this hardship has put enormous emotional and financial strain on the family.”
“Because Dutch and Kathy have, through no fault of their own, required extended hospital stays to keep them just alive, the Keown family have rinsed not only the amount of days that their care that their insurance will afford them, but also they’ve had to raid their savings as well to the point that there’s almost nothing left. Amanda, the daughter, has had to give up work for the short term, and because Dutch and I haven’t been able to record any new material for the YouTube channel, the AdSense revenue from the YouTube show has tanked as well, so there’s almost no money going into the household. In full disclosure, I’ve been helping Dutch out financially with money that has still been coming in to the YouTube channel, and I’ve also donated to Dutch Mantell’s official Go Fund Me, which has been set up by his daughter Amanda. I’m afraid this is where I must come to you, the subscriber, the viewer and the fan of Dutch Mantell and professional wrestling in general,.I absolutely hate having to ask this, as does Dutch because he’s a proud man, but I hate the situation as does he that he finds himself in dire financial straits. Dutch’s GoFundMe can be found at the link below. If you are a fan of Dutch, please consider giving whatever it is you can to help the man out. I’m not asking you to do anything I wouldn’t, of course, I’m no multi millionaire, I promise you, but I’ve put my money where my mouth is, and I’ve donated to the GoFundMe as well.”
Go Fund Me: https://gofund.me/ce26c390
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit WSI with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
