Senior guard Josh Jones and head coach Greg McDermott updated the Creighton community on Jones’ medical condition in an emotional press conference following his hospitalization and absence from Creighton’s game against Nebraska on Dec. 6. Josh will not play for the next month, until doctors will be able to better determine Josh’s medical status.
“As you know, against Nebraska, Josh blacked out before the game just briefly. He had an atrial flutter in the upper portion of his heart and that’s what caused him to black out for a few seconds,” Greg McDermott said in the opening of the press conference.
“Next Tuesday he is going to have a procedure that’s called a radiofrequency ablation where they’ll go in and try to fix the problem and diagnose the problem and in about a month after that procedure they’ll go in again and see if what they did is successful,” McDermott said. “At that point, we can make a determination whether Josh can return to the basketball court at that time or whether more time is needed.”
Though Jones’ absence is a blow to the basketball team, McDermott emphasized that the most important thing is his long-term health.
“He doesn’t need to make any decisions about basketball at this point in time, as he has enough other things to worry about,” McDermott said. “As I told him in my office, it’s important that he listens to his medical team and does what he’s asked to do.”
Jones was very emotional and expressed gratitude for the support the Creighton community has given him.
“First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me in these past couple of days,” Jones said. “It’s felt like months and it’s only been a couple of days.”
“For everyone who loves me and has supported me up to this point and what I’ve been through the last nine years, including my redshirt year here at Creighton, I just want to say thank you,” Jones said. “I appreciate it and it hurts me bad for this to happen to my life.”
Jones later provided the harrowing details of his experience the day of his heart troubles.
“When I was on the bus I started to go blind in my left eye,” Jones said. “I wear contacts, so I figured it was contacts, but I felt dizziness. Everything that happened that day I first thought it was from adrenaline.”
Jones said he felt strange during warm-ups and even woke up lying on the ground at one point. He attempted to continue warming up, but said that his heart felt like a “snare drumroll” and at that he decided to go back to the locker room after continuing to feel uneasy in warm-ups.
This is not the first time Jones has had heart troubles. He underwent heart surgery in 2007 to replace a heart valve damaged by a bacterial infection.
Jones said as important as basketball is to him, his life comes first.
“Beyond basketball, it hurts me that I have to put it on the backburner right now, it’s my life that’s at hand,” Jones said. “The feeling down when I collapsed at Nebraska is something that I don’t ever want to go through again. I’m a pretty strong person, I tend to smile a lot and all, and I’m going to continue to smile because of the support.”
According to McDermott, the best case scenario for Jones’ return to the court is mid-to-late January, although it is also possible that he never plays again. Once the doctors share the results of the procedures, it will be up to Jones what he does moving forward.