Former NBA Players Sends Heartfelt Message to Heart Donor's Family

Eleven-year NBA veteran Scot Pollard is alive today because of the generosity of Casey Angell and his family.

Pollard, 50, suffered from cardiomyopathy for years, the same affliction that killed his father when Pollard was a teen. It became clear that a heart transplant would be the only way to save the 2008 NBA champion and onetime Survivor contestant.

Pollard underwent that life-saving heart transplant in February 2024. The organ came from Angell, a 45-year-old father from Texas, whose family agreed to organ donation following his death from pneumonia.

Five months after his surgery, a grateful Pollard decided he was going to write the Angell family to let them know of the impact Casey had. 

“My name is Scot,” Pollard said, via ESPN. “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. My wife, myself, our four children, our extended family and friends are all forever grateful!”

Pollard went on to call Angell a "hero" and said he would love to meet his family down the road, if they were open to that.

"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...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 said.

Angell's family received the note and were so touched, they sent back an accompanying one.

"Scot, you warmed our hearts with your kind words concerning your donor, who was loved beyond measure. February 16, 2024, was an incredibly hard day for those of us that loved your donor, Casey," the family wrote.

"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. So the answer was simple, and it was a yes."

The Angell family also said yes to a meeting with the former Sacramento Kings and University of Kansas standout. After Pollard and Angell's widow Pamela spoke by phone in November 2024, the group met on March 17 of this year.

Pollard met Pamela, her 12-year-old son William, and Angell’s sister Megan. The three took turns listening to Casey's heart in Pollard's chest with a stethoscope.

"There was a connection there that I felt," Scot said of William. "I know how that feels as a child, to lose your father."

Megan added that it was "an honor to let everyone know how proud we are of him, and who he was, and what a good man he was."

"We miss him every day, but Scot helps with that," she said.

Pollard's heart transplant journey has been chronicled in ESPN’s new documentary, Heart of Pearl.