A sister-in-law to late comedian Bernie Mac has opened up to People magazine about the entertainer's final moments at the hospital with his wife, Rhonda, and their 30-year-old daughter, Je'Niece.
"He opened his eyes on his own and looked at Rhonda. She called his name, and he opened his eyes and nodded to her," said Rhonda's younger sister, Mary Ann Grossett. "She smiled at him and told him, 'Don't leave me … 'I'm waiting for you to come back.' He shrugged his shoulders, and she said that's when she knew he was tired. He signaled to her that his body was tired."
Mac, Grossett revealed, was hospitalized in Chicago on July 24, eight days before the date announced by his publicist. He was diagnosed with pneumonia and immediately placed on a ventilator. He died at 2 a.m. on Saturday.
The night before, "He struggled for his life. He couldn't breathe," said Grossett. The next day, doctors "were working on him. They tried to resuscitate him two times. One time he came back for about an hour. Then he went into cardiac arrest the second time."
Grossett said the last communication between Mac and Rhonda took place on July 31, one week after he was admitted to the hospital. "He told his wife [non-verbally] that he could breathe on his own, and he wanted the ventilator out. He motioned that he wanted it out," says Grossett.
Additionally, Grossett says Mac's inflammatory lung disease contributed to his death. "He had sarcoidosis, but it was in remission," she says. "But because he had it, his immune system was compromised. He had an infection ... He was on a new medication that suppresses the immune system, and that's where the pneumonia came from."
She says that doctors kept Mac sedated, although he was conscious at times and he contracted a second strain of pneumonia while in the hospital.
Of her widowed sibling Rhonda, Grossett says, "She’s devastated. However, she's at peace about his transition because of her faith in God. Her faith is what is sustaining her."
A funeral for Mac is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 15, at an undisclosed location. The family requests that donations be made to the Bernie Mac Foundation for Sarcoidosis, 40 E. Ninth St., Suite 601, Chicago IL 60605.
