Shareef O’Neal, who had open heart surgery when he was 18 years old, recently reached out to Bronny James to help him in his recovery from his cardiac arrest.
I talked to Bronny, you know, I sent him a message.
I just said any questions you have you can ask me because I can probably answer them for you.
I know people are going to be saying they, um, their like, praying for you and all that, but you kind of just don’t want to hear too much about it at the moment.
Shareef O’Neal, Shaq’s son, much like Bronny, LeBron James’ son, was unaware he had a heart issue until his first year of college.
Shareef noticed his heart was beating rapidly during basketball practice at UCLA, which led to him having open heart surgery to correct his coronary artery.
Shareef said he had to face tough questions on his road to recovery.
When am I going to be able to get back?
I can’t even walk right now. What is my future looking like?
And that’s when I kind of realized, I was like, I don’t know if basketball is going to ever be an option again.
He said his father’s advice helped fuel his comeback to the court.
He’s like, ‘If you make it out of this, you’ll be the baddest man on the planet.’
And that just, kind of builds a fire up in you and makes you wanna go back and get it.’
Shareef currently plays for the NBA G League Ignite (Nevada), with hopes of making it to the NBA one day.
Bronny James went into cardiac arrest Monday (July 24) during basketball practice at USC.
The medical staff at USC was able to treat him and take him to the hospital.
He is now in stable condition with more tests pending.
Watch the “GMA” report on Shareef and Bronny below:
It’s great that Bronny has a friend like Shareef who can relate to his situation on multiple levels and who is eager to help with his recovery.
We wish Bronny James a speedy recovery, and we wish Shareef O’Neal all the best in his NBA pursuit.
