A son of the basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal signed with a legendary program in 2018. All was looking aligned until the dreadful news about a congenital heart defect hit the family. Shareef was voted the number 1 player in California state by ESPN and was also labeled as a 4-star recruit. Yet it did not matter at the operating table. Fortunately, the then-18-year-old has recovered and continues to look for a path to the NBA. However, during his recovery process, there was another scare for his mother.

At first, when the UCLA trainer informed Shareef, it was Shaunie Henderson who accompanied him. Shaquille O’Neal was tied up with commitments but joined Shareef via FaceTime. The room was full of doctors, and they informed them both good and bad news regarding his right anomalous coronary artery (ACA). The good news was that it was treatable. And the bad news was that open heart surgery was the only option. The surgery worked, and then Shareef moved to stay with his mother and elder brother, Myles.

On the Cheat Codes podcast, Myles spoke about life on their family reality show and their role in Shareef’s recovery. Where he spoke about growing up and working on the reality TV show life. During that conversation with Shaunie Henderson, Myles inadvertently revealed his mother’s constant reminder of keeping Shareef safe. “She was like, ‘How’s your brother?’ And I was like ‘Oh, he’s fine.’ Like ‘Yeah, but you know he needs to like be calm.'” So, Myles looked after Shareef, but their younger brother created another issue.

Shaunie’s expectation was for the kids to learn to be “cautious and smart” from Shareef’s ordeal. However, this was not the case for Shaqir, as he frantically called and complained about chest pain. Shaunie calmly asked Shaqir if recent activity had caused chest trauma. He told her that the bench press bar hit his chest really hard, and Henderson knew it was an impact injury. But his son was still panicking and escalated the situation. When Shaunie arrived, Shaqir was terrified, with an IV and monitors hooked to him.

The doctors confirmed that he had a bruised sternum, but Shaqir insisted he was feeling worse. “This was about Shareef, of course. In his mind, the chest pain might be a symptom of the same arterial deformity his brother had,” Shaunie wrote about Shaqir in her memoir. She had the doctor release him and lectured him on the actual difference between the two situations. Her explanation relieved Shaqir’s fears and prevented further panic.

How Shaquille O’Neal and ex-Shaunie let their son choose his own fate

Even though post-surgery, Shareef may have had his fun, the ordeal throughout was serious. After the surgery, he lost considerable weight as well, going down to 170 pounds from 215 pounds. But deciding to have the surgery was completely his choice. Shaunie Henderson explained the situation, that without surgery, he’d face lifelong restrictions and risk sudden cardiac death. This meant he wouldn’t be able to be an athlete anymore.

Plus, he would also have to monitor his heart rate for the rest of his life. Or, he could get the surgery and accept the risks involved, which ranged from infection to death. The executive producer in her book added, “That’s a lot to put on an eighteen-year-old, but this was a decision Shaq and I could not make for him. I remember thinking, either he chooses the surgery and I’m going to lose my mind until he’s out of recovery, or he doesn’t get it and I’m going to lose my mind for the rest of my life, worrying about him every minute of every day. But I said nothing about my fears. I had no right to burden him with my anxiety.”