Former NBA star Lamar Odom spoke to the New York Daily News about the effects of suffering 12 strokes and six heart attacks following an overdose at a Nevada brothel in 2015 that left him in a coma, writes The Daily Mail .
The biggest side effect that 39-year-old Odom has suffered is short term memory loss, telling a reporter that he “can’t remember s**t.” He explains that his memory is so bad that he’ll place an object down and seconds later forget where he put it.
The former Los Angeles Lakers forward struggled with drug problems leading up to the 2015 overdose, where he was found unconscious in a brothel in Nevada after overdosing on cocaine.
At the time, Odom explained the experience of overdosing and ending up in a four-day coma.
“At that point in my life, I was doing coke every day. Pretty much every second of free time that I had, I was doing coke. I couldn’t control it.”
In addition to memory issues, which doctors have attempted to treat with mental exercises, the former basketball star has also been dealing with physical challenges that have prevented him from continuing to play.
“From the stroke, some of my balance is not the same, my equilibrium is not the same, but I’m working on it to get it better. Handling the basketball came so naturally. When I see that going between my legs and going behind my back is a problem, I think that’s the coma and stroke and heart attack.”
The two-time NBA champion is continuing to work on physical rehabilitation as he hopes to be chosen for the upcoming Big3 draft, a three-on-three league featuring 132 mostly former professionals, including Eddy Curry and Greg Oden, who will compete to earn a spot on the roster.
The former reality TV star associated with the Kardashians faces a long uphill battle to regain his basketball skills and earn a spot on Ice Cube’s 31-player roster. However, despite the current challenges, Odom admits that he feels fortunate to be alive.
“All my doctors say I’m a walking miracle. They couldn’t really believe how I came back so fast. When I woke up I couldn’t walk or talk.”
The 6-foot-10-inch basketball star, originally from South Jamaica, Queens, New York City, won two championship rings and the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award in 2011 during his career with the Lakers. He finished his career playing two years for Dallas before he left the NBA.