One of the first things that former NBA player and Survivor contestant Scot Pollard made sure to do after receiving a heart transplant was to write down his feelings when they were fresh, in the hopes that he would someday share them with the donor's family. "We want you to know that your loved one's heart is going to be loved and cared for and will give love back," Pollard said in a letter that was sent through the transplant network to the hospital where the heart was harvested. "Your loved one is our hero." Last week, Pollard heard back: The donor's family is willing to meet, the AP reports.
An 11-year NBA veteran and a member of the 2008 champion Boston Celtics, Pollard inherited a condition from his father, who died at 54, when Scot was 16. Scot Pollard had known for a few years that his only solution was a heart transplant, but finding a donated organ big enough to pump blood through the 6-foot-11, 260-pound former NBA center was a challenge. In February, doctors found a match, and the transplant at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was successful. Afterward, Pollard told the AP, he learned his own heart was "a wreck." "I don't think I would have made it another couple of weeks," he said then.
As he recovered, the 49-year-old former Piston, King, Pacer, Cavalier, Celtic, and Kansas Jayhawk used his basketball and reality show fame to raise awareness for organ donations. He also grew even more determined to thank the donor's family. "I read the letter a couple of times and it was hard because tears were in my eyes the whole time," Pollard told the AP on Monday. "I already knew that somebody's life was cut short. And so, you know, the feelings are mixed. Just like receiving the heart in the first place: I went through a big round of guilt because I knew somebody had to die for me to live." Pollard is working with a documentary crew on his story, and hopes the donor's family will participate.
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