Cameron Smith to undergo open heart surgery

Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

He will miss the 2020 season, but that’s not the main concern

Recently, we’ve talked about linebacker Cameron Smith in connection with his being placed on the Minnesota Vikings’ reserve/COVID-19 list. On Saturday, the second-year player told the world that he’s gotten even more bad news relating to his health.

Smith posted on his Instagram page on Saturday morning that he will be undergoing open heart surgery.

View this post on Instagram

Earlier this week I found out I need open heart surgery to fix a bicuspid aortic valve that I was born with. Although this will unfortunately end my 2020 season, it is really a blessing that we found this as my heart is severely enlarged and wouldn’t have lasted much longer. I found this out after I tested positive for COVID and had to have further testing done as protocol. The Lord works in mysterious ways, but I could really feel him on this one! There is a surgery that will allow me to continue to play football as soon as I am healed and cleared and I didn’t think twice about going with that one. By no means am I ready to be done playing football, there is still so much more I want to accomplish on the field. Im going to attack this like everything else I have in life. Already looking forward to the comeback! #SKOL

A post shared by Cam (@_killacam) on Aug 8, 2020 at 12:22pm PDT

The full text of Smith’s message is as follows:

Earlier this week I found out I need open heart surgery to fix a bicuspid aortic valve that I was born with. Although this will unfortunately end my 2020 season, it is really a blessing that we found this as my heart is severely enlarged and wouldn’t have lasted much longer. I found this out after I tested positive for COVID and had to have further testing done as protocol. The Lord works in mysterious ways, but I could really feel him on this one!

There is a surgery that will allow me to continue to play football as soon as I am healed and cleared and I didn’t think twice about going with that one. By no means am I ready to be done playing football, there is still so much more I want to accomplish on the field. Im going to attack this like everything else I have in life. Already looking forward to the comeback! #SKOL

The condition was, apparently, discovered when Smith was undergoing more testing connected to his COVID-19 diagnosis. Thankfully the doctors found it when they did, as Smith himself says that he “wouldn’t have lasted much longer” if they had not.

From a football perspective. . .and I understand that’s completely secondary in this situation. . .but Smith currently does not count against the team’s 80-man Training Camp roster because of his status of being on the COVID-19 list. I’m assuming the team will move him to injured reserve whenever they are able, if they haven’t done so already.

I know that all of us here at The Daily Norseman want to wish Cameron Smith the best as he recovers from his upcoming surgery. We’ll be ready to see #59 compete for a roster spot when the Vikings hit the field in 2021.

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