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It's not hard for Warriors center Ronny Turiaf to make an impact in an NBA game. Whether it's making a big-time block at the rim or taking a hard foul to prevent a bucket, Turiaf is pretty good at sending a message.Well, Turiaf is trying to send another kind of message these days, this one about the important of heart health. That message is proving a little more difficult to send.
Turiaf held a conference call this week to announce that his foundation, The Ronny Turiaf Heart 2 Heart Foundation, is teaming with the American Society of Echocardiography to try to make more people aware of the echocardiogram – a heart ultrasound – which likely saved Turiaf's life.
It was a sparse gathering on the call, but that didn't make Turiaf any less positive or enthusiastic about getting the word out. After Turiaf was drafted by the L.A. Lakers in 2005, an echocardiogram showed that he had a life-threatening heart condition, an enlarged aortic root.
"When I got diagnosed, I thought it was a big mistake, "Turiaf said. "I didn't think anything was wrong with my heart. I was in the best shape of my life. I thought I was invincible. I was going from doctor to doctor thinking everything was OK.
"They put two scenarios in front of you: Choice A, you have surgery. Who knows what's going to happen. You might be here, you might not be here. Or B, you stop playing basketball."
Of course, Turiaf opted for the surgery, which allowed him to continue playing basketball. It's pretty simple, really. That echocardiogram probably saved Turiaf's life. So, it's easy to understand the goal: Get the word out about heart health and echocardiograms.
"We're at the very early stages of our collaboration," said Dr. Williams Zoghbi, American Society of Echocardiography president. "We could develop many venues for us to increase the awareness of echocardiography, which is a cardiovascular ultrasound, and in promoting health."
Turiaf has found time this offseason to keep tabs on the Lakers, his former team. Not that he necessarily wants them to win it.
"It's bittersweet because I have a profound relationship with those guys," Turiaf said of his old Lakers teammates. "I'm happy for them. I want them to succeed. ... I'm rooting for a good basketball series. I want my friends to be happy, but I like Mickael Pietrus, too. So, I'm in the middle."
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