Celebrity Apprentice victor, Bret Michaels facing open-heart surgery

[HMG] In further news of a life that could barely contain more misfortune, Celebrity Apprentice winner, Bret Michaels is now due to undergo elective heart surgery later this year.

Bret, 47, says the hole in his heart that may have caused the April 23 hemorrhage which nearly ended his life has to be fixed, and as soon as he’s done with all the medications needed to cope with all the traumas he’s suffered, his doctors will get that fix arranged.

“They’ll do the operation in the fall,” Bret told Access. “They have to let everything clear out, then they’ll do the operation and I’m gonna be great. I don’t have any other options except to think it’s gonna be a smooth operation and I’m gonna feel awesome.”

Describing his current state as “amazing,” Bret says April’s hemorrhage was a far different story.

“I’ve never felt pain like that; Ever,” he recalls. “I got knocked out at the Tony’s by a wall and it didn’t feel half as bad as that did.”

But apart from being told he was facing ‘a life-threatening injury’ Bret says the worst part of the diagnosis was what it could mean to his two daughters; 10-year old Raine and 5-year old Jorja;

“It was probably one of the scariest moments in my life, ‘This could be it’” says the former frontman for Poison.”Your life doesn’t flash in front of you; You don’t have a rewind of your childhood….at least, I didn’t. I just got very sad that I may never see my kids again.”

But despite still facing months of tiring treatment, one thing Bret is proud of is defying his doctors and attending the ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ finale;

“I just made the decision I have to set a goal, and they were adamant this was not the best thing to do,” Michaels said. “And… it rocked!”

And the show’s 9.3-million viewers would seem to agree. If you saw it, what did you think?…