Scot Pollard, a former NBA big man who became a cult hero because of his funky hairstyles and appearance on “Survivor,” is in need of a heart transplant.
In new photos his wife, Dawn Pollard, shared on Jan. 10, she said the one-time NBA champion has been through a flurry of operations and tests as he struggles from a genetic heart issue stemming from a virus he contracted in 2021 — the same way his father, Pearl Pollard, died 30 years ago.
“3 failed heart ablations, pacemaker/defibrillator, all the drugs and side effects, heart biopsies, heart catheter tests, CT/MRI scans, countless viles of blood taken, ER trips, myocarditis, pericarditis-all over the past 3 years…and now heart transplant list,” Dawn wrote on X.
“It’s an odd situation to sit here and ponder for an undetermined amount of time,” he told the Indianapolis Star about needing a transplant. “The surgeon here said it’s like winning the lottery. We might get lucky next week, next month, next year. It might be longer. It’s like Tom Petty says: The waiting is the hardest part.”
Pollard, 48, who played 11 seasons in the NBA with five different teams, capping off his career with a championship in Boston in 2008, guessed it had been three years since he had gone on a walk with his wife in an interview with the paper.
Given his 6-foot-11 frame, the former center needs a large man to provide the donation, an issue that his father also faced.
Pollard has registered at three hospitals to fight those odds, including Ascension St. Vincent in Indianapolis and the hospitals at Vanderbilt and the University of Chicago.
“The donations go regionally,” he says, “and they’re not going to fly a heart anywhere. The heart won’t come to me – I have to go to the heart. Vanderbilt does more (heart transplants) than anyone in the country, and the range typically is a four-hour drive. They accepted me even though it’s five (hours to Nashville).
“I told them my wife will get me there in four if they give me the call.”
