Football legend Matt Millen underwent a heart transplant in the early Monday morning hours.
Millen stepped away from the broadcasting booth earlier in the year to battle amyloidosis, and now he’s getting a new heart.
Peter King wrote the following Monday morning in his Football Morning in America column:
First, a Christmas Eve bulletin: Matt Millen, the Super Bowl winner and former Lions GM and longtime TV voice, was scheduled to be wheeled into surgery early this morning in New Jersey to undergo a heart transplant. After waiting three months for a match in Newark Beth Israel Hospital, Millen, 60, who has a rare disease that attacks the lining of the heart, was told Sunday afternoon that a match had been found.
I called, and Millen said he was scheduled to undergo the transplant at 1 a.m. Monday. The surgery would take, if a normal one, between four and six hours. Quite a Christmas Eve gift for Millen, his wife Pat and their family.
This is some of the best news we’ve seen in the football world in a very long time. Millen is a pillar in the football community. He was an absolute star at Penn State, won four Super Bowls, was the general manager of the Lions before he moved to the broadcasting booth.
He might not have had success with the Lions, but he did an unreal amount of winning at just about every other stage of his career. (RELATED: Fox Releases Heart-Wrenching Video About Football Legend Fighting For His Life)
I’m happy as hell right now to hear that he is getting a new heart. The video Fox Sports released of him back in October is a great reminder of what kind of impact he’s had on the sport so many of us love.
“All men die, but not every man lives. I’m not worried about dying… so I’m living.”@BigTenNetwork analyst Matt Millen remains a beacon of strength in his fight with amyloidosis, a rare life-threatening disease. pic.twitter.com/m6nn2hLAqu
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 3, 2018
Let’s all hope Millen gets better soon. I’m not sure the football world could handle losing him right now. We need him back on the Big Ten network next year calling games. It just needs to be done.
There are few things that unite everybody in the football world, and Matt Millen healing up will certainly be one of them.
If you’re the praying kind, a few prayers wouldn’t go wrong. As King pointed out in his column, Millen could use all the prayers he can get right now.