Mom: UCLA F O’Neal ‘could’ve died’ due to heart

9:03 pm | June 19, 2019 | Go to Source | Author:

If doctors hadn’t discovered UCLA sophomore forward Shareef O’Neal’s heart condition before last season, he “could’ve died,” his mother, Shaunie O’Neal, said in the eighth-season premiere of her VH1 show, “Basketball Wives,” on Wednesday night.

According to his mother, Shareef, who is also the son of former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, missed last season after he was diagnosed with a right anomalous coronary artery, a congenital condition that can cause “chest pain, heart failure, or even sudden cardiac death” if left undiagnosed, according to the Stanford Health Care website. He had open-heart surgery in October to correct the abnormality.

“[It’s] an artery that just grows in the wrong place,” Shaunie said on the show, which she created and produces. “He was born with it. He could’ve died from it. They let us know Shareef needed open-heart surgery. That made my heart break.”

Officials at UCLA have not disclosed details about Shareef’s diagnosis or his surgery. But he was cleared to return to the court in late March.

He did his first team workouts with new coach Mick Cronin last month. Cronin said then that Shareef, a former four-star recruit, was still working on his conditioning and strength after losing 25 pounds.

“When you go from just not doing anything to try to playing basketball, stop and go contact, full workouts, it’s almost like zero to 60,” Cronin said last month. “He’s obviously got monitors all over him. Obviously, if he wasn’t cleared, he wouldn’t be out here. It’s just a matter of getting his wind back up and his strength. He lost 25 pounds. That’ll come. … He’s just working through it all. But he’s been great. Really impressed with his skill level.”