Now in his 11th season in the NBA, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Jeff Green continues to play well and is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. However, what many may not remember was his career was almost over back in 2012 as he was diagnosed with aortic aneurysm.
Six years after undergoing surgery, the 31-year-old Georgetown product recently found out how long his heart was stopped by cardiac surgeon Dr. Lars Svensson, who performed the procedure on him. Green could not believe it, and was shocked during an interview with Tony Zarella of Cleveland 19 News.
Svensson performed the five-hour surgery in January of 2012.
He said he stopped Green’s heart for at least an hour during the operation, which led to a funny moment during our interview, as Green whipped his head toward Svensson during that description.
“To even say ‘his heart had to stop’, it’s surreal,” Green said
Green was forced to miss the entirety of the 2011-12 season when he was still with the Boston Celtics. After a year of recovering, he did the unthinkable and returned stronger than ever, appearing in 81 regular season and six playoff games for them. He even averaged better numbers than the previous campaign he played in and showed no signs that he was being hampered by any ill effects of his condition.
With the Cavs this year, Green is one of their key players off the bench and is posting 10.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 22.1 minutes per game. He has clearly put his health issue all in the past and looks to be headed to having more successful years playing at the highest level.
