They boys quickly changed their outfits and ran out onto the stage for their next song. Brian came out last. He still wasn't feeling well. Actually, he was feeling worse than before. He was just so tired. Right now, he was totally out of breath, and the concert had just begun. He wasn't sure how he was going to last the rest of the concert. And they had another concert tomorrow night.
Their next song, "The One" started, and the boys began to sing and dance. AJ sang the first verse. Brian was up next. But he was barely making it through the choreography. As he started to sing, his voice sounded shaky and breathy, not it's usual tone. And suddenly, he felt light-headed and dizzy. He stopped dancing and tried to continue with his singing part, but the dizziness overcame him, and suddenly everything went red, then black.
The crowd gasped as Brian collapsed on stage. Howie noticed first. He ran over to Brian, who lay unconscious on the floor. Kevin ran over next, followed by Nick and AJ
"Nick, go get help," Kevin shouted to Nick. Nick hurried off the stage.
"Brian, Brian!" Howie called, shaking Brian gently. Moments later, Nick appeared with Donna, one of their managers, and Fatima.
"Is he breathing?" Donna asked, hurriedly.
"Yeah," Howie answered, watching Brian's chest rise and fall.
"Ok, we've got to get him off the stage first," said Donna. "Can you guys carry him?"
"Sure," AJ answered. He and the others carefully lifted Brian and moved him backstage. They carried him into one of the dressing rooms and lay him on the couch inside. Donna and Fatima burst into the small room.
"How's he doing?" Fatima asked in a concerned voice.
"He's still breathing," Howie answered.
"Well, what happened?" Donna demanded.
"I don't know," Howie answered. "I just saw him fall. I guess he just passed out."
"He hasn't been feeling too well," Nick said. The others nodded in agreement.
Just then, Johnny, their other manager, hurried in. "I called an ambulance," he said. "What happened to him?"
The boys shrugged. "He just passed out," AJ said. They said nothing more, but all of them worried about the same thing: his heart.
A few minutes later, a group of paramedics rushed in. Brian was still unconscious. They put him on a stretcher and carried him out to the ambulance.
"Can I ride with?" Kevin asked.
"Sure, go ahead," Donna said with a nod. "We'll meet you there."
Kevin climbed into the ambulance with Brian and the paramedics.
When Brian woke up, he had no idea where he was. He tried to sit up, but was overcome by dizziness. Suddenly, he heard his cousin's voice.
"Brian? Brian, can you hear me?" Kevin asked. He hovered over Brian.
"Kevin?" Brian asked. His voice sounded muffled because of the oxygen mask that was strapped onto his face. "Where am I?" he asked, looking around.
"You're in an ambulance," Kevin told him. "You passed out, and we're taking you to the hospital."
"I was so tired," Brian mumbled. He still felt tired and listless, completely drained of all energy.
Just then, the ambulance pulled up to the hospital. Some nurses came out of the hospital. They helped the paramedics wheel Brian out of the back of the ambulance and into the hospital. Kevin walked behind them. They wheeled Brian into a small room and helped him onto the examining table.
"Can you take this thing off my face?" he asked. "I'm fine now." One of the nurses nodded and unstrapped the mask.
"That's better," Brian said, taking a deep breath. He looked at Kevin. "Did you call my parents?"
"Not yet," Kevin replied. "I'll go call them now."
"You rest here," the nurse told him. "We'll be right back." She turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.
The other nurse had already led Kevin out into the hall, leaving Brian alone to think. He was worried. He had been sick for almost a month now, and it had just been getting worse, not better. He had thought it was just the flu or a cold, but now he knew it wasn't that. He hoped it wasn't his heart. His heart problems hadn't bothered him at all ever since he had recovered from his surgery almost two years ago. But he just wasn't sure.
***
Over the next few days, Brian's doctors kept him in the hospital and ran a number of tests on him, trying to determine what was wrong with him. When they read about his congenital heart murmur in his medical files, they wanted to run some tests on his heart, just to make sure that wasn't causing the problem. This made Brian nervous. He thought the hole in his heart had been closed during his operation in May of 1998. He wasn't expecting any more problems with his heart. But he was in for some shocking news.