Son of NBA Superstar LeBron James Recovers from a Medical Scare!

Unscripted (Commentary)
By Keith Edmonds FWIS Contributing Writer

As many of you may or may not know, the sports world received a huge shock this past week as Bronny James, son of NBA superstar LeBron James, collapsed from cardiac arrest during a scheduled practice on the campus of USC (University of Southern California). James was ranked 20th in the 2023 ESPN 100 ranking of high school recruits. And is the sixth-rated point guard in the class of 2023. Cardiac arrest happens when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. Blood flow to the brain and other vital organs stops. (According to the National Institutes of Health), cardiac arrest causes up to 450,000 deaths a year in the U.S. Cardiac Arrest is different from a heart attack which occurs because of an artery blockage but the heart generally keeps beating. During a cardiac arrest, the heart stops beating, and CPR or defibrillation is needed immediately! This latest health scare for a prominent athlete comes on the heels of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s scare last season when he also collapsed during an NFL game and had to be resuscitated by paramedics. What I have found interesting is all of the speculation and conspiracy theories that have come from these events and how we as the public view our athletes, entertainers, or to be honest, people that move in a different tax bracket than most of us. “The Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous”. James, who is a rising star in the hoop’s world, is committed to USC this fall, and is a part of one of the nation’s top recruiting classes has openly stated that if things fall into place for him in college, will leave after his freshman season and go into the NBA draft looking for the opportunity to play with his father Lebron James.

Many so-called experts have mentioned that some of the causes for Bronny James collapse is due to him taking the coronavirus shot, or maybe he was on drugs or something else illegal because how could a young man that is only 18 years old suffer such a fate? This is the public again trying to push a narrative that is untrue, but the world’s largest court, the “court of public opinion” wants to find the REAL reason why this happened, and until they do, rumors and innuendos will run rampant!

Here are the facts about athletes and heart issues:

1) Dozens of college athletes (or athletes in general) fall to cardiac arrest every year with many of them dying, which makes this occurrence with Bronny even more frightening.

2) Men’s college basketball players are the most at risk, and even more alarming is that Black men are the most susceptible due to genetics, diet, etc.

There is NO indication that Bronny James suffered from myocarditis which is a side-effect (rare) of the COVID vaccine. So why speculate? Folks, LeBron James is one of the worlds most celebrated athletes and his talents and marketing abilities have gained him untold generational wealth that is amazing, but it does not make he or his family immune from health, or family crisis that hit ALL of us. Billions does guarantee financial capabilities that many of us will never know, but in the end what do we gain from it?

There are so many lessons that can be learned from this that it is too numerous to fit into the space that I am allowed to print. I will say that as the days, weeks, and months pass, and we learn more about Bronny James prognosis, (and hopefully complete recovery,) we have so much to learn about prioritizing our family and those that we take care of and take care of us. This is now the second time in the past year that the medical staff at USC has dealt with a player collapsing as fellow Trojan baller Vince Iwuchukwu returned to the court six months after his cardiac arrest on campus. (As of this writing, it’s unclear whether James’ recovery would follow a similar path).

Questions abound as to whether the pressure of being the son of arguably the worlds most famous athlete, finally lead to Bronny James health issues as stress could be a contributing factor, or committing to college sports, or everyone wanting Bronny’s time and energy, or many other factors that we could name. I for one am happy that he is out of ICU and on the road to recovery! Let’s take a moment and allow this thing to mature before moving forward with OUR reasons as to what happened could we do that? Hmmmmm……