Amanda Huber Details Brodie Lee's Final Months

The professional wrestling world was shocked on December 26 to learn of the passing of Jon "Brodie Lee" Huber. Tributes to the AEW and WWE star immediately poured in and All Elite Wrestling held a tribute show in Brodie's honour on December 30.

Lee passed away following a long battle with a non-COVID related lung issue and Lee's widow Amanda Huber detailed his final months on the latest episode of the AEW Unrestricted podcast.

Amanda noted the first signs that something was wrong was when Brodie couldn't finish his peloton workout on a Monday in October. Lee felt like he couldn't catch his breath and Amanda checked for COVID-19 symptoms, but everything else was normal. The following day, Brodie once again couldn't complete his peloton ride but had no other symptoms.

He drove to Jacksonville from Tampa, Florida that night ahead of Dynamite on Wednesday and tested negative for COVID-19. Dr. Sampson sent Lee home, though, because he didn't want to risk bringing him into the AEW bubble because of his breathing problems, believing it could be COVID related.

Lee drove back to Tampa on Wednesday and had another COVID-19 test. Just in case it was coronavirus, he quarantined at home and suddenly developed what Amanda described as a "super-high" fever on Thursday. At this point, Brodie wasn't eating but he was staying hydrated.

Amanda and Jon went to a local hospital on Friday and Huber was diagnosed with bronchitis and allergies. Amanda admitted she didn't trust the diagnosis as Brodie told her he felt like he had pneumonia. Jon accepted the doctor's diagnosis, though, and was prescribed antibiotics, steroids and allergy medication.

Brodie's condition continued to worsen over the weekend and he continued to have a high fever and wasn't eating. He finally ate for the first time in several days on Sunday and his fever had gone away, but Amanda noted his face was sunken in and she took him to the hospital. Brodie struggled to walk in the hospital and used Amanda's shoulder to support himself. Amanda tried to get him a wheelchair but he refused.

While at the hospital, Jon was taken to triage and his temperature was checked. His oxygen levels were measured using a pulse oximeter. Amanda detailed the experience, saying: "The girl's like, 'Let me go get a new machine.' Comes back with a new machine, takes his oxygen again. 'That's not right.' Comes back with a third machine. Realises the machines aren't broken, his oxygen was at 52. So a normal person is supposed to be about 100... Somebody with severe COPD or asthma, if they're in the middle of an asthma attack they're usually around 85. So they were like, 'What the hell is this?'

Brodie was then put on oxygen and tested once again for COVID-19 as the doctors believed his problems were COVID related. Both the Thursday test and the Sunday test came back negative.

Over the next few days, Brodie had some ups and downs and he had been moved to intensive care by Wednesday so he could receive more care. The nurse taking care of Brodie before he was taken to the ICU believed Huber was suffering from COVID and wanted to be proactive in moving him so his condition didn't worsen. Lee's condition continued to worsen, however.

Amanda then fast-forwarded to October 30. Brodie Jr. had been asking Amanda to buy a denim jacket because he wanted to be Orange Cassidy for Halloween. Amanda was initially resistant because she didn't think many people would know who Orange Cassidy was, which made Brodie Jr. mad. She visited Jon in hospital and she explained one of the last words Brodie ever said to her were, "Go buy him a f*****g denim jacket." She ultimately relented and purchased Brodie Jr. a denim jacket so he could dress up as The King Of Sloth Style for Halloween and dressed their three-year-old son Nolan up as Brodie Lee as a surprise for Jon. Amanda noted Jon was upset because it was supposed to be his first Halloween at home.

On Saturday, October 31, Amanda was called into a meeting room by a doctor while Jon was getting a scan. She was told they were going to transfer him as he needed to be put on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine and may need a lung transplant. Amanda was told this was a matter of life and death and they agreed to move Brodie to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.

Lee was still conscious at this point and the plan was to airlift him to Jacksonville in the early hours of November 1. Amanda broke down after being told the news. The doctors asked her to go home and pack a bag and to see Jon after she returned because they didn't want him to see how upset she was.

She then went home, packed a bag and told Brodie Jr. that his dad was really sick, but that he was being taken to the best hospital in Florida. The two children were then picked up by a friend and Amanda quickly took photos of them in their costumes to show Jon.

As she was hugging Nolan goodbye, the hospital in Tampa phoned to tell her that Jon had "crashed" and was intubated. He and Amanda were then airlifted to Jacksonville at 3 am on November 1 and Brodie underwent surgery to put him on the ECMO machine after arriving at the Mayo Clinic.

Doctors still believed Brodie was suffering from a COVID-19 issue and the Mayo Clinic did a bronchial wash which also came back negative. While this was going on, Amanda told AEW about Jon's health. She explained she was worried about the news leaking and would check Reddit daily. Amanda also noted that AEW paid for her hotel the whole time she was in Jacksonville.

Brodie's health improved in November after he was moved to the Mayo Clinic and placed on the ECMO machine. She signed the documents to start the transplant process on November 9 and visited AEW to tell everybody what was going on and to ask for their discretion.

Amanda noted that Brodie was later taken off the ventilator and was conscious. He couldn't talk, but he mouthed words to her and communicated through smiling and winking. Things were looking up, but Brodie had a panic attack shortly after being placed on oxygen at the end of November and he was placed back on the ECMO machine. His condition deteriorated further from there.

Brodie's health continued to worsen throughout December and Amanda was told by a doctor that the ECMO machine was no longer a long-term option and Jon either needed a lung transplant or end of life care.

The Mayo Clinic checked if Lee was well enough to receive a lung transplant but doctors told her that Brodie had contracted a bacterial infection while at the hospital. The infection was said to be common, but because Lee was immunocompromised and in bad health, the infection had grown and his lungs, in Amanda's words, were "just f****d."

Amanda next discussed Brodie Jr.'s birthday on December 16. Chris Jericho had told Amanda to contact him if she needed anything and Brodie Jr. was flown from Tampa to Jacksonville on the former AEW World Champion's private jet to be at the December 16 AEW taping.

Amanda was waiting to find out if Lee could receive a transplant on December 16 and the Mayo Clinic ultimately decided he wasn't well enough to undergo the surgery. She went to the Mayo Clinic, but one of the doctors wasn't prepared to give up on Brodie and only wanted to start end of life care after exhausting every option. Amanda agreed and they started to look into getting a lung transplant elsewhere.

On December 23, Amanda went back home for Christmas and she told the doctors that she wanted a break to spend two days with her children. She arrived home on Christmas Eve, but received a call from one of the doctors. The doctor told her that Brodie's kidneys and heart were failing and they needed to start end of life care. Amanda insisted they didn't need to start end of life care and after the doctor said they didn't want Brodie to pass before she arrived, Amanda said it was a risk she was willing to take.

Amanda then spent Christmas with her children, brother and sister in law and tried to have a normal day. They travelled to Jacksonville overnight on December 25 so they could start end of life care for Brodie on December 26 and Amanda's mother looked after Brodie Jr. and Nolan.

Amanda noted that she was close to Cody during Jon's final months and that Big E had been Brodie Lee Jr.'s best friend since he was two-years-old. She called them on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and asked them to be with her when she told Brodie Jr. that his dad was going to pass away. Both agreed and on December 26, Amanda, Cody, Big E, Shawn Spears, Peyton Royce and Tyler Breeze along with family members said goodbye to Jon at the Mayo Clinic. Big E, Cody and Amanda then walked to the hotel to give Brodie Jr. the news.

Amanda explained Brodie's cause of death has not been completely confirmed because they are awaiting the results of an autopsy. She believes the official diagnosis was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, "which literally means that his lungs scarred up and the idiopathic part means they don't f*****g know why. They don't know what happened to his lungs but they know his lungs were just completely scarred over." The doctors believe Lee had an infection back in October and that the fever ended up scarring his lungs. She also noted that by the time they went to the hospital in October, Brodie didn't have an infection but his lungs had been severely scarred.

Following his passing, the family didn't have a funeral for Brodie because Amanda didn't want to risk anybody else's health during the pandemic. Instead, the AEW Brodie Lee A Celebration Of Life show was their way of saying goodbye.