Former NBA Player Scot Pollard Admitted to ICU, Needs Heart Transplant
February 8, 2024
Former NBA player Scot Pollard was admitted to the intensive care unit at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center this week.
Per the Associated Press, Pollard has a genetic heart condition that may have been triggered by a virus he contracted in 2021 and needs a transplant.
"I'm staying here until I get a heart," Pollard told the AP in a text message on Wednesday. "My heart got weaker. [Doctors] agree this is my best shot at getting a heart quicker."
The AP noted Pollard was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday because his heart has "been beating an extra 10,000 times per day" due to the genetic condition that half of his siblings have.
Pollard's father also suffered from the same condition and died at the age of 54.
"That was an immediate wake-up call," Pollard said to the Associated Press in a phone 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."
Per the AP, finding a heart for Pollard is made more difficult because of his size at almost seven feet tall and 260 pounds. He described his physical state as feeling "like I'm walking uphill all the time" since the issue began three years ago.
Pollard did say doctors are "confident" they will be able to find a matching donor in "weeks not months." He previously had three ablations done in an attempt to break up the signals that cause the irregular heartbeats. He also had a pacemaker implanted about a year ago.
"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."
Pollard played college basketball at the University of Kansas from 1993 to '97. He was a first-round pick by the Detroit Pistons in the 1997 NBA draft and played with five different teams during his 11-year professional career, including winning a title in his final season with the 2007-08 Boston Celtics.
After retiring from basketball, Pollard had a television career as a broadcaster and actor. He was part of the cast for the 32nd season of Survivor that aired in 2016.
