SAN ANTONIO – Friday marked 25 years since San Antonio Spurs legend Sean Elliott underwent a kidney transplant.
Methodist Hospital, where Elliott underwent the procedure, held a celebration to mark his medical milestone.
While Elliott was helping the Spurs win their first NBA Championship during the 1998-99 season, he was secretly battling kidney failure.
Following the title celebration, Elliott received a kidney from his older brother.
“Incredibly lucky and blessed to have a brother who has been a great inspiration for me and a hero, just an incredibly selfless act. Like I said earlier, I’ve gotten to enjoy the past 25 years being healthy and happy because of what he’s done for me,” Elliott said at the celebration.
Elliott had another health scare a few weeks ago
His smartwatch kept notifying him that he was having irregular heartbeats.
Elliott said he felt fine and ignored the notifications for a few days.
It turned out that Elliott was having episodes involving atrial fibrillation.
He had a procedure to shock his heart back into rhythm and is feeling much better.