Former NBA Center Celebrates Leaving Hospital 13 Days After Heart Transplant

Former NBA center Scot Pollard was released from the hospital two weeks after undergoing a heart transplant.

Two weeks after receiving a heart transplant, former NBA center Scot Pollard is going home. 

Pollard was admitted to the intensive care unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville on Feb. 7 and was to remain hospitalized while waiting for a transplant. At 6'11", his size made it difficult to find a donor heart suitable for transplant, but one eventually became available and Pollard had the surgery on Feb. 16, four days after his 49th birthday. 

Pollard spent 13 days in the hospital recovering from the surgery but was released on Thursday. His wife, Dawn, posted a video on social media showing Pollard dancing down the hallway and ringing the bell to celebrate his release. 

HE MADE IT!! 13 days post heart transplant and he got to ring the bell! 🔔 pic.twitter.com/n6f5p5ibem

— Dawn Pollard (@DawnMPollard) February 29, 2024

Seeing Pollard dance down the hallway like that is remarkable when you consider that just eight days earlier he was still moving around with the assistance of a walker. 

Pollard played 11 years in the NBA and is most remembered for his time with the Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers. He played his college basketball at Kansas, where he blocked 218 shots in his four-year career. At the time of his graduation, that ranked second on the Jayhawks’ all-time list. 

Pollard’s heart issues were the result of a genetic condition that was triggered by a virus he contracted in 2021. His father, a former University of Utah basketball player, also had the same condition and died at age 54 when Scot was 16.