SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio Zoo CEO Tim Morrow has backstage access when Bret Michaels plays at the Alamo City.
"It's an unreal story, but a really fun connection for me to have with that band," Morrow told KENS 5 Friday.
Morrow says he grew up listening to Poison, but he didn't become friends with Michaels and his band until they stopped at SeaWorld in 2010. Morrow ran the waterpark, then, and booked Michaels' band for a concert.
"The guys from the band were hanging out and swimming with belugas," Morrow said. "We never really saw Bret."
Michaels was on the floor of his tour bus, sick with appendicitis. When they learned of his condition, Morrow and at least two doctors could not convince the rocker to go to the emergency room.
Nearly a dozen people tried to get Michaels to go to the hospital.
"He literally was asking me, 'Put trash cans on the side of the stage and if I need to get sick during the show, I'll go off stage. But I really want to do this show for my fans,'" Morrow recalled.
Instead, Morrow bluffed and told Michaels he'd already canceled the concert.
"I cannot be the guy that let Bret Michaels die," Morrow laughed.
The two scheduled a make-up show before the singer went to Christus Santa Rosa-Westover Hills. Michaels spent five days there after an emergency appendectomy.
While the singer recovered, the band lived at SeaWorld. Morrow says the performers cleaned penguin exhibits and picked up trash around the park in their free time.
Days after Michaels went home, he suffered a brain aneurysm. Bandmembers say the singer probably would've died on the road, had the tour not already been canceled.
"He and the band credit me with saving him," Morrow said. "That's a bit of an exaggeration, but it is great story and we've created a lifelong bond."
The Zoo CEO says San Antonio's hospitality actually saved Michaels, who performed at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo Friday. Morrow and Michaels reunited after the concert.
"It speaks to... our focus on taking care of visitors," Morrow said. "There's no strangers here."