A new heart and a small miracle: Former NBA player Scot Pollard receives the ultimate gift of life

The ex-Pacers' heart had been failing for years. Then he got on several transplant lists. And with time running low, he found just what he'd be praying for -- a new heart.

Scot Pollard was dying.

He knew it when we spoke for a previous story I wrote Jan. 15 (Linked here). He knew he was dying, his heart fluttering like squirrels battling over a bushel of acorns in his chest, his brain engulfed in fog, the fatigue overwhelming. He knew that without a heart transplant – and it’s not easy finding a heart big enough for a former NBA center who stands 6-foot-11 and 300 pounds – he would not have terribly long to live.

Maybe he had a few years. Maybe less. He thought.

Until he went to the Vanderbilt Heart Center in early February, when a cardiologist told him he had weeks to live.

“We need to do this now,” he was told.