9 February 2024
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Fighting to live another day, the legendary University of Kansas Jayhawk Scot Pollard is in an ICU in Nashville. He has a genetic heart condition that now requires a new one.
It’s a battle Pollard said is bigger than anything he faced on the basketball court. He said his biggest fear is that he will die on the transplant list without getting to see his kids grow up. This was the nightmare he lived when his dad died from the same condition, never making it off that list.
“This is real; this is as real as it gets,” said KU Basketball Icon Scot Pollard.
Pollard is all too familiar with the process. He said losing his dad made him angry because he never got to see his success in the NBA.
“His heart had stopped while he was driving. He went through a four-way stop and crashed into some cars that were parked at a country club. Luckily no one else was hurt, my dad was dead,” said Pollard.
In 2021, after a flu shot, Pollard had a virus that activated a genetic heart condition. He now needs a new heart to live with.
“When you’re waiting for a kidney transplant, it can be life-threatening for you, but you know that you’re not expecting someone to you expire in order to get a gift,” said Pollard.
Pollard said his biggest inspiration is his wife, Dawn, who beat breast cancer. He said he used her triumph and courage to continue his own fight.
He is on a transplant list in Indiana, Chicago, and Nashville, where he is currently in the ICU. The heart transplant surgical director at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the hospital where Pollard is at, says they do 140 heart transplants a year and still, many never get off the waiting list.
“There are several realities; one is that they die waiting, the other is that they can develop enough complications prior to transplant or difficulties that they’re not a candidate anymore,” said Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Heart Transplant Surgical Director Ashish Shah.
Priorities range from a status level of one down to seven.
“We prioritize them now based on how much risk they have of dying on the transplant waiting list, where priority one is the highest priority, and that’s someone typically in the hospital on a temporary heart pump to keep them alive,” said Shah.
Pollard is now status two and will not leave the hospital without a new heart. He is also 6-foot-11. His size means a new heart will need to be big.
“I’ve had three ablations, been on all the drugs that they have, they’ve given me drugs they don’t give to other people, they’ve given me drugs they don’t use anymore, they’ve tried everything, and it’s not working,” said Pollard.
Pollard wants his story to bring attention to the need.
“This is not about me; this is about spreading the awareness of getting registered to donate your organs because you can be a lot of people’s hero when you don’t need them anymore,” said Pollard.
Dr. Shah said the easiest way to increase available organs, is to increase the number of registered donors. He said it’s also important to have a conversation with family members, as doctors need permission in the crucial hours when someone may be a candidate for organ donation.