The basketball community was greeted with some shocking news in 2018 when word surfaced that Shareef O’Neal, son of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, would have to undergo open-heart surgery. During a routine checkup at UCLA, doctors discovered a congenital heart defect in the then 18-year-old. Medically termed anomalous coronary artery, the defect ensued artery malformation that only surgery could cure. However, things turned out well for Shareef, and almost half a decade later, the youngster recently opened up about the dreadful situation to his 2.8 million followers on Instagram.  

Shareef opens about his dreadful medical journey

Reflecting on his remarkable journey, Shareef O’Neal recently shared a post on his Instagram page, marking the 5th anniversary of his open-heart surgery. The interview video featured him and his mother. The prodigy extensively talked about the impact of the diagnosis on his family and also opened up about his comeback. 

In the video, the family shared the situation they had to go through and how they remained strong, strongly believing he would recover. Shareef shared this video with a caption saying, “HEART SURGERY ANNIVERSARY! 4 years, 11 months, and 29 days ago My life changed .. I always post on the anniversary, but I wanted to share an unfinished project that I started working on about my whole journey through this process .. Heart of a champion.. hope you guys enjoy this trailer 🫶🏾.”

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Shareef’s mother Shaunie appeared teary-eyed during the interview as she revealed, “To know your kids’s heart is broken and you can do nothing about it is probably one of the worst feelings ever.”

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This video quickly broke the internet, as several fans showered their love on the young player in the comments section. Shareef O’Neal has certainly come a long way since his diagnosis and the prodigy can now be seen sending shockwaves with his exceptional skills at the NBA G League. 

Like father, like son!

Born in 2000, Shareef was never interested in the sport of basketball, but that quickly changed when he suffered a huge loss in a match against the Amateur Athletic Union game, which ignited a fire in him to become a better player and prove his haters wrong. Since then, in his college career, he has become an unstoppable force. In 2022, he declared his name for the NBA draft, but after going undrafted in that season, he joined the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Summer League. In September of the same year, he signed up with the NBA G League Ignite.

With so many prospects for him, it remains to be seen of Shareef can walk the same path to stardom like his father!

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