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LaVar Ball has detailed why he underwent recent surgery to remove his right foot.
In an article penned by LaVar, father to NBA players Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball, for SLAM magazine, published on Tuesday, March 18, the amputation was revealed to be the result of a foot infection that spread through LaVar’s blood, leaving him in hospital “for over a month.”
“Due to not paying attention to my diabetes … I ended up having to get my foot amputated,” LaVar, cofounder of sports apparel brand Big Baller Brand, wrote. “First, they cut off a couple of toes. Then they cut off my foot. Then they said, ‘We gotta go almost knee high for another surgery.’ Three surgeries. And then there was the blood transfusions. Not one, not two, not three, four different times.”
TMZ first reported that LaVar undertook the surgery in February, with the businessman taking to social media earlier this month to share post-op footage with fans. Seen dancing to Haddaway’s “What Is Love?” in a video posted on March 5, LaVar appeared to be in good spirits, allowing the camera to pan down to his amputation.
“I look at my situation like this: I’ve talked to some of my people that’s my age that’s been calling me that have cancer,” LaVar’s article further read. “And they say, “We thought we got it all, but we didn’t,’ and so the organs are getting tore up in the inside. Now these folks are dying. And these are my friends that are around my age, in the 50s and dying of cancer. Just for me to have my foot cut off, I got another one. I’m good to have my foot cut off as opposed to being dead.”
LaVar also credited his family for helping him through the past few months. “Seeing what my boys are doing out there, they’re like, ‘Dad you’re the toughest dude I know.’ That made me keep going,” he wrote. “Even though I’m a bad man — I don’t need much — it was good to have that backing from my boys. One of the things that makes me go is when they are all together. When they are all together, I feel strong.”
Just days ago, LaVar revealed his return to the weights room, posting an Instagram video of himself lifting dumbbells in his home gym. The clip was soundtracked by LiAngelo’s (a.k.a. GELO) song “Can You Please,” featuring GloRilla.
The perseverance shown by LaVar — arguably best known for promoting the careers of LiAngelo, 26, Lonzo, 27, and LaMelo, 23, whom he shares with wife Tina Ball — was heralded in the comment section of the video. Two-time Olympic shot putter Chuk Enekwechi wrote, “The older I got, the more I realized Lavar and BBB were the winners all along.”
