Champion Celtics alumni Scot Pollard plans to advocate for organ donors after lifesaving transplant

The former Boston big man owes his life to the kindness of someone who had the foresight to become an organ donor.

Champion Boston Celtics big man Scot Pollard may be a Survivor (alum), but he has a lot of heart — literally — and wants to help pay forward the ultimate kindness that saved his own life. Now discharged from the hospital after getting life-saving heart transplant surgery to replace his own heart after it was damaged by a viral infection, Pollard hopes to leverage his platform to campaign for organ donations for others.

The former Boston big man was in intensive care waiting for a heart big enough for his nearly 7-fooot, 260 lb. body, and though things ended well for Pollard, they easily might not have. “That thing was a wreck,” the former Celtics center told the Associated Press.

“The doctors immediately knew I was much closer to death once they pulled my heart out,” he added. “I don’t think I would have made it another couple of weeks.”

“The fact that it came so quick probably saved my life. I don’t know how much longer I would have lasted,” said Pollard. “I was just declining so fast.”

“I’m going to annoy people with becoming a donor. That’s going to be a project for the rest of my life.”

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