Former NBA star Scott Pollard “woke up feeling great,” his wife said the day after his successful heart transplant.
Dawn Pollard spoke to X on Friday and said the former basketball player, who turned 49 on Monday, “has a new heart!”
She said: “The surgery went well and I was told my heart was big, strong and a perfect fit! Now I’m going to start the important part of my recovery.”
“We thank you for your continued prayers and support, but most of all we are deeply grateful to our heroes who are our donors.”
She added on Saturday: “Look who’s awake and feeling good! His breathing tube came out early this morning and he started singing ‘I left my heart in San Francisco, Nashville,’ jokingly.”
Her latest update showed Mr Pollard standing up just 12 hours after the transplant and saying: “We’re all amazed at his progress.”
Ms Pollard contracted a virus in 2021 that caused damage to her heart, which is thought to have caused a genetic condition that causes her heart to beat more than 10,000 times a day.
The former Boston Celtics player was familiar with the disease, having lost his 54-year-old father to the disease when he was 16 years old. His five siblings also have the disease.
He was admitted to the intensive care unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, in early February and said at the time, “I’m going to be here until they find my heart.”
Finding the right heart for Pollard, who stands 6-foot-11 and weighs 260 pounds while playing, was complicated. He revealed that he was advised to register with as many transplant centers as possible to maximize his chances of receiving a new heart.
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He also said in a phone interview shortly before going to the hospital that his father’s death was an “instant wake-up call” for his teenage self.
“You don’t see a lot of old 7-footers walking around,” he says. “So I’ve always thought that because it was burned into my head when I was 16 years old. Yes, it’s great to be tall, but I’m not going to be 80.”
In 1997, Pollard helped Kansas advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the fourth consecutive season and was drafted in the first round.
Over the course of 11 years, Pollard played for the Detroit Pistons, Sacramento Kings, Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Celtics.
In his final season as a basketball player in 2008, he won the NBA Finals with the Celtics, but a season-ending ankle injury kept him out of contention.
Since hanging up his jersey, Pollard has worked in broadcasting and acting. However, his most famous post-NBA appearance was as a contestant on the game show “Survivor,” where he was eliminated after 27 days of voting with only eight contestants remaining.
