HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Bret Michaels had plenty of support from his girlfriend, Kristi Gibson, when he suffered a massive brain hemorrhage that nearly ended his life.
"I said, 'I'm not leaving his side,' " Gibson tells People in recalling the night Michaels was rushed to the hospital by ambulance on April 21. "I held his hand and told him, 'It's going to be okay.' Just from his eyes, you could tell how much pain he was in. I wanted to take away that pain so bad."
Gibson and Michaels have dated off and on for 16 years. They have two young daughters together – Raine, 9, and Jorja, 5.
"He was just worried about me and the girls – that's all he cared about," Gibson recalls. "I was like don't worry about us, we'll be fine."
Gibson has become a steady and calm force in part due to the rocker being a diabetic.
"I'm used to being calm, because of the times when his blood sugar has gone low, and if I freak out, he freaks out," she explains.
As for how important of a role she played in the Poison singer's recovery, friends say Gibson was the driving force.
"In most of our world, Bret's the hero, but in this situation, Kristi was the hero – she saved his life," says Michaels's guitarist and friend, Pete Evick.
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