Skip to main content

NBA players who overcame COVID-19 to contribute to experimental treatment

The NBA season has been suspended indefinitely as of March 11 when Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, followed by a myriad of other players and NBA figures, including New York Knicks owner James Dolan and former MVP Kevin Durant. However, several NBA players who contracted and subsequently overcome the coronavirus plan to donate their blood for an experimental treatment that could ultimately help high-risk patients to overcome the virus, according to Dr. Michael Joyner, a member of the leadership team of the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project.

The procedure itself is a form of therapy that is called convalescent plasma. It works by utilizing the antibodies in the blood donated from recovered patients to fight the virus in patients that are sick.  Marcus Smart, poing guard for the Boston Celtics, confirmed he is one of the players planning to participate. Smart announced via social media that he had been cleared of the virus by the Massachusetts Department of Health last month. In addition to Smart, at least three other players are also planning to donate their blood to the cause, though their identities currently remain unknown.

Boston Celtics' Marcus Smart plays against against the Oklahoma City Thunder during an NBA basketball game, Sunday, March, 8, 2020, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

This plasma-infusion treatment has the most promising results of all COVID-19 treatments if implemented before infection. It even does better than the malaria medications. NBA players could be especially valuable when it comes to plasma donations sue to their physical size and training level. "These are big men with blood volumes, and as a result [they] have a lot of plasma volume," Joyner said. "Frequently people who are physically trained also have an increase in their plasma volume from what you would expect from them just being regular-sized guys ... We believe [the treatment] can be disease-modifying and reduce duration and severity in some patients."

Furthermore, the NBA has reached out to team doctors and encouraged other players who have recovered from the coronavirus to consider donating their plasma to the project. The NBA has also donated $100,000 to the National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project as part of the recently launched NBA Together campaign.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sports and Music Make a Duo

Listening to music before or after sports is common everywhere in the world and we see many athletes around the world who listen to music during their workout routines. It is believed that music helps athletes to gain self confidence, for example an American swimmer Michael Phelps listens to music 2 minutes before his competition to get himself into the right mindset. Music enhance the performance, mood and risk behavior of an athlete it helps in deflecting a performer’s attention away from the negative and towards the positive. The temp of the music also have an effect on movement therefore if an athlete listen to a fast temp song then it may increase their movement to a faster pace which enhance the performance of the athlete. Hence, there are number of tracks for athletes which they will love to listen during their training and workout sessions. ·          DJ Snake (Turn down for what) ·       ...

Pakistan Football Federation has been suspended by FIFA

  Pakistan Football Federation(PFF) has been suspended after PFF headquarters were taken over by Syed Ashfaq Shah and its group. The Federation was being run by a Normalization Committee which was appointed by FIFA. The Committee was headed by Haroon Malik. FIFA had deemed the takeover as illegal and had given an ultimatum to Syed Ashfaq Shah and its group to hand over the PFF control by March 31st or face overall suspension  It is understood that the ultimatum was ignored. FIFA released a statement that said that the bureau of the FIFA council suspended the PFF with immediate effect due to third party interference. “This situation was prompted by the recent hostile takeover of the PFF headquarters in Lahore by a group of protestors and an alleged decision by certain individuals to remove the FIFA-appointed normalization committee of the PFF led by Haroon Malik and to hand over the leadership of the PFF to Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah,” said by FIFA However, it is hoped that ...

Premier league doctors not happy with football resumption as fear of players contracting coronavirus

Football has been suspended since March and different plans are being discussed how the came is to be restarted and when. It is most likely that “Project Restart” will be adopted, where games are to be played in neutral grounds by June. But the medics are showing their concerns and penned a letter to the Premier Leagues medical advisors. Some of the issues raised in the 100-point letter were  · Threat of death · Liability of the medics in case a player contracts coronavirus · Testing of the players · Transmission of the virus through sweat · Transmission of the virus through the goalkeeper’s gloves · Increase risk to the minority groups · Increase risk to employees · Emergency personals to be able to attend the training grounds Premier league medics were invited and asked to mention their concerns regarding the return of the game. Most of the clubs have started their training as they wait for the restart date which wa...