Frank Fritz’s Health Still Seemingly In Decline, As Multiple 911 Calls To American Pickers Star's House Have Been Revealed

Frank Fritz’s trials  are growing more apparent as the weeks roll on. Following his widely-publicized stroke in 2022, in recent months, we’ve known the American Pickers star has been struggling, as a guardianship was put in place to help with his financial and health decisions. Now, new details are coming out of Iowa indicating multiple 911 calls have been placed to his home in recent months. 

Four times over the last several months, emergency calls have been placed on the TV personality’s behalf. The first of these came on November 17th of last year, and happened because the American Pickers star was having “a seizure.” More calls were obtained by The Sun, and detail a swathe of different issues he has reportedly been facing.. 

A second call on December 7th was made due to high blood pressure. A third call was placed by a caregiver over “possible pneumonia” on December 21, with another call placed for the same issue one day later, just before the holidays. It’s unclear if any 911 calls have been placed since the start of 2023. 

The details also reveal other previously unreleased information, including the fact  Fritz is seemingly wheelchair bound since his July 14th stroke. During the fourth 911 call, the former reality star’s guardian called him “handicapped” and noted he’s in a wheelchair. Audio from one call indicated: 

I'm going to need an ambulance to take someone to the hospital because I think they have pneumonia. I'm the guardian. He's handicapped. He's wheel-chair bound.

Fritz's Guardianship Had Been Put Into Place Previously

The aforementioned guardianship was in place before any of these phone calls occurred, which is why a caretaker was on hand to place the calls. Fritz’s friends started the legal process of the guardianship back in late last year after the TV personality had spent time in a rehab facility following his stroke. The last update we had confirmed the former History star had returned home following this stint, and the details of the myriad 911 calls do support this information. 

Back in August of 2022, there had been some indication that Frank Fritz was “on the mend” after his health incident. This was seemingly good news at the time, as Fritz had previously expressed interest in a return to TV – the livelihood that had made him a household name.

There had been bad blood between Frank Fritz and Mike Wolfe ahead of his stroke and afterward. He'd clapped back at comments his Pickers co-stars had made about his on-set behavior, behavior which reportedly led to his firing (after he had voluntarily put his History career on pause). It was Wolfe who also told the world Fritz had a stroke, a fact his former Pickers co-star was allegedly unhappy with. In addition to health struggles, Fritz has also reportedly been dealing with money struggles since his exit from television. 

It's been a long haul for the TV personality and it doesn't sound like he's out of the woods yet. Sending positive vibes to the star during this time.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.