Scot Pollard awaits heart transplant at Vanderbilt after Kansas basketball, NBA career
Former Kansas Jayhawk and NBA forward Scot Pollard, 48, has been hospitalized in Vanderbilt University Medical Center since Tuesday as he awaits a new heart.
The 6-foot-11 Pollard said in a text to the Associated Press Wednesday he will remain in the hospital until he is able to receive a new heart, a possibility affected by his large frame.
“I’m staying here until I get a heart,” he said to the AP Wednesday, per NBA.com. “My heart got weaker. (Doctors) agree this is my best shot at getting a heart quicker.”
Vanderbilt has one of the leading heart transplant programs in the world, both in terms of success rate and volume.
Pollard's condition, which is genetic and is believed to have been activated after he contracted a virus in 2021, causes his heart to beat an extra 10,000 times a day. Half of Pollard's siblings have the condition, which took his father's life at 54 years old.
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Pollard is 6-foot-11, 260 pounds, which makes him an extra-difficult case. According to the IndyStar's Gregg Doyel, tasks humans generally take for granted have become exhausting for Pollard.
“He did an interview with someone in Sacramento,” his wife Dawn said last month. “And he had to hang up two or three times to catch his breath.”
He has long been aware of his disease, dubbed "cardiomyopathy," which can make it difficult for the heart to supply the human body with enough blood to function.
"I'm on a watch list," he said back in 2016 to the IndyStar as he was appearing on "Survivor: Kaoh Rong," before the disease was exacerbated. "It's a big man thing."
In 2024, Pollard feels he has exhausted all other options.
“They all agree that more ablations isn’t going to fix this, more medication isn’t going to fix that,” he said, per NBA.com. “We need a transplant.” Pollard has registered with Ascension St. Vincent in his birthplace Carmel, Indiana. His move to be hospitalized at Vanderbilt, however, may help his odds of getting a new heart. It could make him eligible to become a Status 2 patient, up from the Status 4 he had before. That would make him second-highest priority to get a new heart.
“They can’t predict, but they are confident I’ll get a heart in weeks not months,” he said to the AP.
“The fact is, [the donor's] going to end up saving someone else’s life,” he said of the fact someone has to die for him to be helped. “They’re going to be a hero. That’s how I look at it. I understand what has to happen for me to get what I need. So it’s a real hard mix of emotions.”
Pollard played at Kansas from 1993-1996, and is one of the Jayhawks' 66 1,000-point scorers with 1,209 (tied with Greg Dreiling for 38th in program history). He is 10th in Jayhawks history with 850 rebounds.
In the NBA, Pollard had five stops in 11 years. He played for the Pistons as a rookie before spending five years with the Kings, three with the Pacers, on with the Cavaliers, and finally one with the Celtics, where he won an NBA championship. While Pollard was more than big, his sheer size was a contributing factor to his NBA success.
“It’s not like being tall is a curse," he said. "It’s not. It’s still a blessing. But, I have known my entire life that there’s a good chance I wasn’t going to get old. And so it gives you a different perspective on how you live your life and how you treat people and all that kind of stuff.”
Now, Pollard is hoping to get back to his life. Despite using a myriad of methods to try to stave off the disease in the past, he is hoping Tennessee is his last stop before finding a more permanent solution.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Scot Pollard awaits heart transplant at Vanderbilt after Kansas, NBA career
