When news first broke Thursday that Suns stretch four Channing Frye would miss time with an enlarged heart, my first thought is it would cost him the season. Because that is what had happened to other players with the same condition. But the team (as teams do) was being vauge and cautious with predictions.
Frye himself thinks this will cost him the season, he told Paul Coro at the Arizona Republic.
“I want to take a year off and make sure that I’m OK to play and that I’m not going to do any more damage to my heart,” Frye said. “There’s no reason to push. It’s not worth it for the long run. To be 29 and have a heart issue is very rare. Other than that, I had a clean bill of health. I’m a 120-over-78 blood pressure guy.”
Frye has dilated cardiomyopathy caused by a rare virus. The treatment is primarily rest (although usually there also is a drug regimin). It was discovered following a standard pre-season physical and treadmill test by team doctors. He will be checked again in December, but likely is out for the season.
“It was very shocking and, at the same time, scary,” Frye said. “It’s not like an arm or knee or an elbow where you’re like, ‘Maybe I can just rehab this.’ It’s something that keeps you going. The only time you hear about things going on like that is (Boston’s) Jeff Green getting open-heart surgery or (Sacramento’s) Chuck Hayes getting a little scare.”
We wish him the best in his recovery.