LaVar Ball Discusses Health Woes Leading To Foot Amputation

By bigced 1 year ago

LaVar Ball, father of NBA players Lonzo and LaMelo Ball and basketball player-turned-rapper GELO tells about what led to his foot amputation

LaVar Ball, father of NBA basketball players Lonzo and LaMelo Ball and basketball player-turned-rapper, GELO gave an exclusive interview to basketball magazine SLAM detailing his diabetes struggle which resulted in him getting his foot amputated recently.

The founder of Big Baller Brand became a public figure for boasting about the impact his sons would make in the world of basketball before his oldest son, Lonzo entered the NBA and took to TikTok to confirm reports of him having his foot amputated in February. LaVar goes into detail about the procedure and what led to it in the magazine article posted via video and on the SLAM magazine website.

He explains that the health scare happened around the same time that LiAngelo, who uses the moniker GELO was making noise off the basketball court and over the streaming and radio platforms with his viral single, “Tweaker.”

“I’m gonna give y’all the real deal. Recently, I had some personal issues I had to deal with. I had an infection where I was in the hospital for over a month. This happened right in the middle of when Gelo’s banger “Tweaker” was blowing up around the world, in January. Funny how life works sometimes.”

He stated that, due to not paying attention to his diabetes, an infection on his foot led to the amputation. It initially started with just a “couple of toes,” which led to the foot being amputated. Three surgeries and also four blood transfusions.

LaVar said he questioned whether he should live after the surgeries but the love and strength he drew from his sons who reminded him of his own toughness got him through the times.

“I’m the Big Baller. I’m hard to kill. But I must admit that my boys kept me rolling. Cause a couple of times, I was like, I can’t do no more blood transfusions. I can’t do no more operations. I’m just ready to shut it down. It’s enough for me. But I’m here for a bigger purpose.’

However, he does have an important message for those who are listening and/or reading his words on taking care of our health.

“From my experience the last couple months, I want to get in people’s heads the importance of taking care of your health—especially Black people, because sometimes we’re not trying to go to the hospital, we will try to sleep it off or say, Yeah, we’ll get to it later. And sometimes it’s a little more serious than what you think.”