Alan Ruck, best known for his role on ABC's "Spin City" as well as the hit 1980s movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and known to Star Trek fans for his role as Capt. John Harriman in "Star Trek: Generations," recently told TV Guide that he nearly died at the end of last year.



According to the story, which appeared in the April 27 issue of TV Guide, the 45-year-old said he first started to feel ill after filming his final episode of "Spin City" as Stuart Bondek before the holiday break last December. Fellow castmember Barry Bostwick met up with Ruck in Newark, N.J. while the actor was on his way home to spend Christmas with his family said that Ruck was "walking like an elderly man. He was pale."



On his way home, Ruck said that he couldn't remember his address or phone number, and ended up being dropped two doors away from his home. He later collapsed and dragged himself home where his wife Claudia called 911 and had him rushed to the hospital. The next thing Ruck remembered, he said, was the countdown for New Year's Eve.



Ruck was hospitalized for a month, missing taping of six episodes of "Spin City." He was diagnosed with a rare streptococcal infection that had caused his livers and kidneys to shut down and left two blood clots in his brain.



"The doctors told me that for the first 48 hours, they thought I might die," Ruck said.



Now on his way to a full recovery, Ruck has lost 20 pounds and uses an aluminum crutch to help with severe arthritis in his knees that was caused by the infection.



Ruck, who appears in the season finale of the show, said that his brush with death "was sort of a wake up call. Any day you wake up and you feel OK -- not even great -- that is a great day.



"I got sick and it was a drag., but I am the luckiest guy in America."