© Provided by TIME Inc. Usually, being sent home by the boss doesn't bode well. But for Mike Bell of McKinney, Texas, it saved his life.

One day last April, Bell, a sales manager at a car dealership, caught the eye of his boss, Gus Rodriguez, who thought Bell wasn't at his best on the sales floor.
"I didn't really feel that bad, I felt a little dizzy," Bell, 58, told ABC News. But Rodriguez disagreed.
"My boss, the second he came up to me, said, 'Mike, you look like [expletive], you need to go to the doctor and figure out what's going on.' "
A few hours later, Bell collapsed on his way to receive an X-ray and was rushed into emergency surgery.

Bell's condition was bizarre: Bacteria from an infected tooth had spread to his bloodstream, and caused him to tear his aorta when he coughed. His coughing, in turn, was filling his lungs with blood.
"Without prompt intervention he would have died within a few hours," Dr. Mark Pool, cardiac surgeon with the Texas Health Physicians Group, told ABC affiliate WFAA. Doctors gave him just a 30 percent chance to live.

Rodriguez joined Bell's family at the hospital, and was there when he woke up. After 14 more days in the hospital, Bell remained at home for months, during which time he says his boss continued to take care of him.
"He took care of me and made sure I could still pay the bills," Bell said, who said he wants to raise awareness about the importance of employers providing their workers with sick leave.