'It's OK To Be Vulnerable': Man Shares Story Highlighting Importance Of Doctor Visits

It’s not easy to get men to go to the doctor. A Cleveland Clinic survey found only half of men even consider getting a physical and three out of four say they’d rather do household chores than go see a doctor.

Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield spoke to one man who learned the importance of getting seen – the hard way.

At this point, Will makes healthcare look easy. But it's been a brutally hard road. It started with a stomach ache while he was at work.

"It was nausea and I had to go in the bathroom and throw up. But it was after that I started feeling these really weird pains in my stomach," Will Smith said.

And the healthy 25 year old would stay home for a week, wrenched in pain. He was sweating profusely and endlessly thirsty. His only relief was lying down. But still he thought it was a bad bug.

His mom who has seen a lot of sick people as a patient care coordinator thought it was something worse.

And she was right. Will's body was failing. He had pancreatitis. The organ that's supposed to regulate blood sugar was literally dying and necrosis was setting in.

"With pancreatitis, sometimes you get this really aggressive inflammatory response. So his heart was racing and he was spiking fevers on and off during his hospital stay," said Dr. Dave Kahat at Hennepin County Medical Center.

"It's OK to be vulnerable to tell people you are in pain. Take my story for example. I almost died not listening to my body, trying to be a tough guy. It’s not worth it," Will said.