For a few weeks last season, Chris Bosh found himself dealing with the possibility that his basketball career had come to an end.
Sidelined with potentially deadly blood clots, the Heat veteran who always seems to be involved in something outside of basketball, saw what his life would be like without the sport that had defined his life for so long.
“It takes time to transition into the other things and that was one of the things that I realized ultimately,” he said. “I’ve been given this gift to play basketball and I feel like I need to share the gift with others and I need to play.
“That’s what I was born to do, to play basketball and be positive and while I have other interests and things I like to do this is what comes naturally to me and I still have unfinished business. This is something that I truly truly unconditionally love.”
Bosh was hospitalized in February after a blood clot developed in his lung, a condition that killed former Portland Trail Blazers star Jerome Kersey only days before. Anderson Varejao and Mirza Teletovic have also missed significant time in recent years after developing blood clots in their lungs as well.
“I was kind of not paying attention to a lot of symptoms,” Bosh said. “A lot of pain, shooting pain throughout my side, shortness of breath,” said Bosh. “There were so many things going on that I didn’t pay attention to.”
These days, Bosh, who spoke to For The Win on behalf of Janssen Pharmaceuticals website Treatmyclot.com, said now he’s just ready to get back to training camp. He’s spent most of the summer working out and getting back into basketball shape.
“I’m excited about this next upcoming season and things are going very well,” he said.
He also looks at life more simply now.
“I don’t need much,” he said. “I just want to be able to play basketball and if my family’s happy, I’m happy.”
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