The Serious Medical Condition That Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Lives With

A six-time NBA champion, the all-time leading scorer in the league, and a six-time Most Valuable Player of the NBA, former Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has unarguably paid his dues. So much so that in 2022, ESPN ranked him the second greatest player in NBA history, behind Michael Jordan. The secret to his outstanding run as an athlete? Abdul-Jabbar says talent and hard work. "I think that to really excel, you need both," he told Harvard Business Review in 2012. "But a good work ethic trumps lazy talent every time ... My talent would not have lasted as long as it did without them." 

After retiring in 1982, Abdul-Jabbar went on to pursue a career in Hollywood, wearing multiple hats including that of an actor and a reality star. The former NBA star has also tried his hands at screenwriting, having joined the team of writers for 2019's "Veronica Mars" back in 2018, per Bleacher Report. In addition to his NBA achievements, Abdul-Jabbar is already well on his way to making similar strides in the film industry. For his work as narrator on "Black Patriots: Heroes of the Revolution," a documentary chronicling the revolutionary war, the NBA star has received two Emmy nominations. 

Yet, amid all of these successes, Abdul-Jabbar's life has been anything but easy. Over the years, the former Lakers center has suffered from a rare medical condition — a diagnosis he first received over a decade ago.

In November 2009, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar revealed he had been diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a rare type of blood cancer the previous year. "It was frightening. You hear the word leukemia and it's something that really affects you," he told The New York Times of his diagnosis. But while the NBA star admitted to initially being scared, he revealed to the outlet that the diagnosis was not life-threatening. "In order to really deal with this situation, you have to find a specialist and follow their instructions," the athlete added. "You have to take your medication; you have to get your blood checked regularly so that you can be monitored." In a 2009 interview with CNN, Abdul-Jabbar insisted that having CML did not affect his quality of life.

True to this claim, Abdul-Jabbar has continued to live a healthy life through the years. In 2018, the six-time NBA champion celebrated ten years as a cancer survivor. While he explained that Leukemia hardly goes into remission, Adbul-Jabbar told People doctors had been able to manage his diagnosis to "a microscopic level." He added: "I feel fine, and I'm very fortunate to benefit from the medical research that enable the targeted drugs to deal with the types of leukemia that I possess," he says. "I'm very happy to be here and very happy to be participating. I'm just trying to hang on here, and every day is a blessing."

This, however, is not all there is to Adbul-Jabbar's health. 

On Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 68th birthday in April 2015, the NBA star was laid on an operating table at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center while he underwent a quadruple heart bypass surgery. "He is looking forward to getting back to his normal activities soon," the UCLA Health System said in a statement. "He asks that you keep him in your thoughts and, most importantly, cherish and live each day to its fullest." A few days later, the NBA star also took to Twitter, updating fans on his health. "Just want to let everyone know I'm doing fine & feeling better everyday. Doing my rehab w/the same mental commitment I had as [a] pro," he wrote.

In addition to this, Abdul-Jabbar has also previously suffered from prostate cancer. "Being Black means I'm more likely to suffer from diabetes, heart problems, obesity, cancer, and a shorter life in general," he wrote in a 2020 essay for WebMD. "So far, in keeping with these statistical risks, I've had prostate cancer, leukemia, and heart bypass surgery."

But while Adul-Jabbar has been lucky amid his numerous health problems, the NBA star also acknowledges the privilege he enjoys as a celebrity. "I'm also lucky that one of my sons is an orthopedic surgeon and another is a hospital administrator. Dad gets to nag them for medical advice whenever he wants," he added in the essay.