"So they basically saved my life — this guy and my wife — because if I didn't go, it would have been a problem," Gilbert said in an exclusive interview with Crain's.



Last week, Gilbert granted Crain's the first interview he's given since suffering an ischemic stroke in the right side of his brain over the Memorial Day weekend that caused temporary paralysis of his left arm and leg.



Gilbert plans to make his first public speech since the stroke Friday at the Crain's Newsmakers of the Year luncheon at MGM Grand Detroit casino, where he'll be honored with the first Newsmaker Hall of Fame award for his frequent appearances on the list of top Newsmakers in Crain's 35-year history.



In 2019, Gilbert's real estate company was making new development announcements and Quicken Loans was continuing to dominate home mortgages. But much of that was overshadowed by his stroke in late May and the months of relative silence from Gilbert's inner circle about his physical condition.

Nearly nine months later, Gilbert is focused on regaining physical strength and motor skills that were lost by what he says was a blood clot in his carotid artery that cut off oxygen-rich blood to his brain.



For a man who owns a professional basketball team, the stroke was both a near-death and humbling experience.



"If that artery was blocked more minutes than it was, it would have been much worse," said Gilbert, who turned 58 last month.



The stroke has upended the life of a fast-charging businessman who, over the past decade, had become a transformational figure in Detroit and influential power broker in Michigan.



"When you have a stroke, here's the problem with it: Everything is hard. Everything," Gilbert said. "Like you wake up, getting out of bed is hard, going to the bathroom is hard, sitting down eating at a table is hard. You name it. You don't get a break. You're like trapped in your own body."



The change in Gilbert's life was as sudden as it gets.



Just a day before his stroke, Gilbert's political influence at the state Capitol reached a crescendo when his lobbyists finished engineering the Legislature's passage of a major overhaul of Michigan's auto insurance law. It was the culmination of years of work by Gilbert and his business organization to lower the cost of insuring vehicles in Detroit.



Hours before gathering with friends on his rooftop patio, Gilbert sent Gov. Gretchen Whitmer text messages pledging to help her get a long-term road-funding deal with the Legislature, according to aides to the governor and businessman.



The ensuing hours ended up being a life-changing experience that Gilbert says he's "very lucky" to have survived to tell.