by Jennifer Porter Gore
Widely known as the father of two pro basketball players and a successful rapper, LaVar Ball has never been shy about promoting his sons — or himself. Because he keeps a very high profile, questions arose when Ball disappeared from the sports scene earlier this year because of an undisclosed illness.
But this week, in an essay published in SLAM magazine, Ball disclosed that he had been hospitalized and his right leg was partially amputated “due to not paying attention to my diabetes.”
“I had an infection on my foot that started spreading through my blood,” he 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 were also the blood transfusions. Not one, not two, not three, four different times.”
‘Perfect Storm’
In addition to being one of the 4.9 million Black American adults diagnosed with diabetes, Ball’s harrowing illness put him at the center of what some researchers are calling an “epidemic”: a growing number of Black people losing limbs because of the disease.
“It is a perfect storm of poor health and lack of medical guidance,” Dr. Dean Schillinger, founder of the University of California-San Francisco Center for Vulnerable Populations, told The Guardian.
“A person with a four-inch foot ulcer often doesn’t realize they need to not put weight on this foot so it can heal,” he said, noting the issue is common in breadwinners of low-income or working-class families. “Often, they’re working on their feet, they’re taking care of kids. They just can’t put their feet up for four to six weeks. And then the ulcer gets worse.”
The number of people living with limb loss is expected to double by 2050.
According to the American Diabetes Association Amputation Prevention Alliance, some 154,000 Americans with diabetes undergo amputation each year, a number that researchers say is on the rise.
But researchers also found that Black Americans are up to four times more likely to lose a limb than whites, that many of the amputations were preventable, and that amputees in general are more likely to have a shortened life span.
PAD and Risk Factors
Like a significant number of people with diabetes, Ball probably suffered complications from peripheral artery disease, or PAD — a common cardiovascular disease linked to diabetes that is a contributing factor to the 400 amputations performed each day in the U.S.
Amputations become necessary, experts say, when a patient suffers from PAD, their circulation is diminished or blocked in organs or extremities with small blood vessels, such as the feet. Poor circulation, in turn, can lead to numbness, or neuropathy, which can block pain from cuts or other minor wounds.
If those undetected wounds become infected, gangrene and other potentially deadly complications can set in, forcing the need for an amputation.
PAD can also lead to stroke, heart attacks, and, in some cases, death. It causes blockage in the vessels that carry blood from the heart to the legs and affects more than 12 million Americans.
The top three risk factors for PAD are diabetes, high blood pressure, and use of tobacco products. These common chronic health conditions disproportionately affect underserved Black and Latino communities, yet almost 7 in 10 respondents to a survey conducted last year were not familiar with the disease.
Numbers Are Rising
Nearly 80% of Black and Hispanic respondents reported they have never had a discussion with a doctor or healthcare provider about PAD.
Projections are that the rates of diabetes and vascular diseases will increase by 36% and 67%, respectively, by 2060. The number of people living with limb loss is expected to double by 2050, while the number of people with diabetes will likely double by 2040.
Although Ball lost part of his right leg below the knee, he acknowledges in his SLAM essay that he is fortunate to have discovered the blood infection before it took his life. If he hadn’t gone to see a doctor last year, “this would be a different type of story,” he wrote.
During his month-long hospitalization, LaVar Ball said his sons — NBA players LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets, Lonzo Ball of the Chicago Bulls, and rapper LiAngelo “Gelo” Ball, whose song, “Tweaker,” became a hit while his father was ill — encouraged him and kept him motivated, even after he wondered “maybe it’s time for me to shut it down.” Eventually, he said, he realized it was a serious setback, but nothing more. There was plenty to live for.
“I’m the Big Baller,” Ball wrote. “I’m hard to kill. But I must admit that my boys kept me rolling. “That’s all I kept thinking about when I was in the hospital — my boys being together.”
Source: Seattle Medium
