Former NBA player Scot Pollard played on Survivor: Kaôh Rōng (Season 32), which aired in the first half of 2015. Casual viewers may remember that season as the one with Tai Trang, who captured Sia’s attention for refusing to let his tribe eat the chickens, or as the one with Caleb Reynolds’ terrifying medical evacuation due to severe heat stroke. Scot was cast during an era where the show was into casting professional athletes, like Brad Culpepper, Jeff Kent, and Cliff Robinson.
Scot got sick in 2021 and ended up being diagnosed with a genetic heart disease called cardiomyopathy. It enlarges and weakens your heart so that it has a hard time pumping blood. Doctors told Scot that he’d need a heart transplant. The only problem was that he’s almost seven-feet tall and needed a heart that would be able to handle his giant frame. That heart came in February 2024, thanks to a donor who tragically passed away unexpectedly from pneumonia. A little over a year later, Scot was able to meet his heart donor’s family to express his “unending appreciation” and let them know that their loved one was a “hero.”
Scot Pollard owes his survival to one special person. The Survivor alum—who competed on the CBS show from 2015 to 2016—shared that he received a heart transplant in February 2024 and was recently able to meet his donor’s family to thank them in person as part of an emotional ESPN documentary Heart of Pearl. Scot—who played with for the Sacramento Kings and the Indiana Pacers in the NBA for 11 years—was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a genetic heart disease, after falling ill in 2021.
“I’m really attached to this heart,” he said in the hospital, per an ESPN story published June 15. “I feel like it’s the best one. That’s the one I was born with. And the biggest fear is that the next one isn’t going to be good enough.”
Indeed, the athlete was declined for multiple transplants because he needed the right match to support his 6-foot-11 body. As his doctor Jonathan Menachem explained, “You can’t put a Ford Festiva engine in an F-150 and think it’s going to work well.”
Scot, now 50, struggled to come to terms with his prognosis.
“I do remember feeling like, ‘If this is it, I’m going to be OK,’” he said. “‘But if it’s not, I’ve got a lot to do.”
Ultimately, he was matched with donor Casey Angell, who died at age 45 after being intubated following a case of pneumonia.
“You’re losing your best friend,” his wife Pamela Angell told the outlet, “but somebody else is gaining your best friend, in a way.”
In fact, Scot’s heart surgeon Dr. Ashish Shah noted, “In some respects, it was just the right heart for him.”
While Casey remained anonymous to him at first, Scot eventually learned his donor’s identity by writing a letter to his family five months after his successful procedure through a program facilitated by his hospital.
“I live in Indiana and I’m writing this letter to express mine and my family’s unending appreciation for your loved one’s gift of life,” Scot wrote, per the note obtained by ESPN. “My wife, myself, our four children, our extended family and friends are all forever grateful! We would love the opportunity to meet at some point if you’re amenable to that idea. We want to let you know that your loved one’s heart is going to be loved and cared for and will give love back.”
In addition to sharing his work raising awareness for organ donors, Scot also praised the man that was lost.
“Your loved one is our hero and he will live on forever through me and our efforts of getting more people to be selfless heroes like him,” he wrote. “If you don’t feel comfortable responding, I completely understand. I just wanted you to know my lifelong appreciation for him. He truly is my hero.”
The former basketball player received a response in October 2024 from Casey’s wife Pamela and his sister Megan Tyra.
“Scot, you warmed our hearts with your kind words concerning your donor, who was loved beyond measure,” they wrote back. “February 16, 2024, was an incredibly hard day for those of us that loved your donor, Casey. When we knew that we were going to have to let him go, and were approached about organ donation, there was never a pause or a doubt that Casey would have wanted to help.”
“Casey was a loving husband, dad, uncle, and the best baby brother anyone could ask for. Even though he was the baby, he towered over us all,” their message went on. “Thank you for caring for that big heart of his. And we are grateful to know he is loved and will continue to give love. It means the world to us. He has inspired people in his own family to donate and be a hero like him.”
They also agreed to meet in person, with Scot traveling to see them in Lindale, Texas, in March 2025.
“What we hope for moving forward,” Scot told the outlet, “is just that I can keep living a good life because of their gift.”
I followed Scot’s journey through social media, including when he was in the ICU waiting to hear if he’d ever match with a donor. He also said in an interview back in February that it wasn’t lost on him that his donor’s last name was “Angell,” which must have been a very emotional revelation for him. I can’t imagine all of the emotions that a transplant recipient and the donor’s family goes through. My friend’s husband received a transplant two years ago, and after finally meeting the qualifications to be put on the list, he waited several more months for a match. They were so grateful for the second chance at life, but were never able to find out who his donor was. It is so special that Scot and Casey’s family were able to connect and meet. I truly hope that it gave Casey’s family some closure to be able to put a face and name to the life he saved. I’ve always clicked the “donor” box when renewing my driver’s license because it’s stories like these that make you realize how important it is.