Vikings LB Cameron Smith To Undergo Open Heart Surgery, Won't Play in 2020

This is a scary health situation for the linebacker from USC, who will miss the Vikings' season.

Vikings linebacker Cameron Smith will miss the 2020 season with a scary health situation, he announced on Instagram on Saturday. After testing positive for COVID-19, Smith says doctors discovered – while conducting additional testing – that his heart was severely enlarged. He will undergo open heart surgery to fix the issue and is hoping to return to the field in 2021.

"Earlier this week I found out I need open heart surgery to fix a bicuspid aortic valve that I was born with," Smith wrote on Instagram. "Although this will unfortunately end my 2020 season, it is really a blessing that we found this as my heart is severely enlarged and wouldn’t have lasted much longer. I found this out after I tested positive for COVID and had to have further testing done as protocol. The Lord works in mysterious ways, but I could really feel him on this one!"

Smith continued by saying that he has no plans to give up on his football career.

"There is a surgery that will allow me to continue to play football as soon as I am healed and cleared and I didn’t think twice about going with that one. By no means am I ready to be done playing football, there is still so much more I want to accomplish on the field. I'm going to attack this like everything else I have in life. Already looking forward to the comeback!"

This sounds like an incredibly scary situation for Smith and his family. It's very lucky that he happened to get COVID-19, which led to this condition being discovered before it was too late.

I wish the best to Smith with his surgery and his long-term health.