Former NBA champion Scot Pollard in need of heart transplant / News - Basketnews.com

Due to a genetic condition that was likely triggered by a virus he contracted in 2021, Scot Pollard has been experiencing irregular heartbeats. The 2008 NBA champ with the Celtics will need a transplant to increase his life expectancy.

Credit: Andy Alfaro/The Sacramento Bee via ZUMA Press Wire Credit Andy Alfaro/The Sacramento Bee via ZUMA Press Wire

A 1997 first-round draft pick after helping Kansas reach the NCAA Sweet 16 in four straight seasons, Scot Pollard was a useful big man off the bench for much of an NBA career that stretched over 11 years and five teams.

Scot Pollard

Position:PF, CAge:48Height:211 cmWeight:120 kgBirth place:San Diego, United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

He played 55 seconds in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ trip to the NBA Finals in 2007, and won it all the following year with the Boston Celtics despite a season-ending ankle injury in February.

Pollard retired after that season, then dabbled in broadcasting and acting. He was a contestant on the 32nd season of 'Survivor,' where he was voted out on Day 27 with eight castaways remaining.

Now, the 49-year-old former player needs a heart transplant -- an already dire predicament that is made more difficult by the fact so few donors can provide him with a pump big and strong enough to supply blood to his extra large body (2.11 m.).

He was admitted to intensive care at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Tuesday, and he will wait there until a donor surfaces who was big enough to be a match.

“I’m staying here until I get a heart,” he said in a text message to The Associated Press on Wednesday night. “My heart got weaker. (Doctors) agree this is my best shot at getting a heart quicker.”

Pollard’s size rules out most potential donors for a heart to replace the one that -- due to a genetic condition that was likely triggered by a virus he contracted in 2021 -- has been beating an extra 10,000 times per day. Half of his siblings have the same condition -- as did his father, who died at 54, when Scot was 16.

“That was an immediate wake-up call,” Pollard said in a recent telephone interview. “You don’t see a lot of old (7-) footers walking around. So I’ve known that my whole life, just because I had that seared into my brain as a 16-year-old, that — yeah, being tall is great, but I’m not going to see 80.”

Although Pollard has been aware of the condition at least since his father died in the 1990s, it wasn’t until he got sick three years ago that it began to affect his quality of life.

“It feels like I’m walking uphill all the time,” he said on the telephone, when he warned a reporter that he might need to cut it short if he got tired.

Pollard tried medication, and has had three ablations procedures to try to break up the signals causing the irregular heartbeats. A pacemaker implanted about a year go only gets to about half of the problem.

“They all agree that more ablations isn’t going to fix this, more medication isn’t going to fix that,” Pollard said. “We need a transplant.”

“It’s out of my hands. It’s not even in the doctor’s hands,” Pollard said. “It’s up to the donor networks.”

To maximize his chances, Pollard was advised to register at as many transplant centers as possible, but he must be able to get there within four hours.

“They can’t predict, but they are confident I’ll get a heart in weeks not months,” he said.

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