Andrew Nembhard is living his best life right now. He’s in the NBA Finals with the Indiana Pacers. And despite losing Game 2, his team is very much in this series and stands a chance to upset the Oklahoma City Thunder. But did you know that Nembhard’s career almost ended before it even began? And it was all because of a disease that nearly cost the Pacers star his life – volvulus.

See, in March 2017, Nembhard experienced some stomach discomfort while at the Montverde Academy. He chalked it up to “another episode,” believing it was a familiar stomach ache. However, pretty quickly, things got way worse, and he had to be rushed to the hospital. Even so, Nembhard believed he’d be out quick, a day at worst. However, things would soon get much, much worse.

You see, Andrew Nembhard was suffering from Volvulus, a condition that  “occurs when a loop of intestine twists around itself and the mesentery that supplies it, causing a bowel obstruction,” per the National Library of Medicine. And because of this condition, Andrew eventually went into septic shock. “When I went into septic shock, that’s when I really realized it was a lot worse than I thought,” said the Pacers star. But the worst wasn’t over. After recovering from a life-threatening bout of septic shock, Nembhard still had a long stint in the hospital ahead of him. “I remember almost coming to tears when I was in the hospital after like the fifth or sixth week there, and I was just kind of down, didn’t really see a lot of progression,” he told the Spokesman-Review.

However, things were still hitting hard. Montverde fell short of winning a prep national title. “It was just tough, watching, we didn’t win it but we did better than people thought we would do. So I was just proud of my guys. I wanted to come back even stronger and win one this year,” Nembhard had said at the time.

But through it all, his family stayed by his side. And he credits them for keeping him “positive” through it all. “It was a trying time. But you find out how important it is to celebrate life,” his father, Claude, had said.

This was a harrowing experience for Nembhard. But that may make you wonder how he bounced back from it the way he has. Well, Nembhard credits it to the thing in life that’s gotten him everywhere. From reaching the NBA to getting to the finals with the Indiana Pacers, he owes it all to this.

You see, it wasn’t just a mental struggle for Andrew Nembhard as he recovered from his volvulus bout. Even after the worst was over, getting to 100% physically was a tough ask. “I could barely walk so I had to just build my muscle back, build my strength back,” he recalls. But he knew one thing that hadn’t left him — his basketball skills. He says those were “all still there,” which helped with the seamless transition once he picked up the ball again.

But discovering his skills were intact was facilitated by his recovery. Not the other way round. But you see, even during what was the lowest point in life, Nembhard didn’t lose hope. “At the time I had maybe a little bit of a delusional confidence, thinking that I was going to come back and get to this point,” he said.

So when he did come back, it wasn’t really a shock to his system. No, it was vindication. Let’s just say he hasn’t looked back since. “It’s not really a surprise to me but just a feeling of I proved myself right,” he said. And it’s undeniable that his indomitable self-belief was what did most of the heavy lifting in the now 25-year-old defying the odds.

After all, he’s not any hooper. Andrew Nembhard is now the starting point guard of the Indiana Pacers. And they’ll sure need both him and his “delusional confidence” to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2025 NBA Finals!