LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Longtime members of BBN will remember the 1992-1993 Rick Pitino-led team, and while he only played a season for UK, Todd Svoboda was there for the ride as the Wildcats earned a spot in the 1993 Final Four.
Before he made his way onto Kentucky’s team as a walk-on, Svoboda stood out as a stud tennis and basketball player at Northern Kentucky University.
Because of his engineering aspirations and his enrollment in a special 3-2 program, Svoboda transferred to Kentucky his senior year to pursue his academic goals.
“It took awhile to sink in,” said Svoboda. “I remember the first time I stepped into Rupp Arena, or even Memorial Coliseum for Big Blue Madness, I honestly had to pinch myself, it had to sink in, it was a dream come true.”
After that surreal Final Four season and subsequent graduation came life – a career in engineering, a wife, three beautiful kids, and a battle far too many faces.
In 2014, Svoboda was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer.
“At that time, they did a megaprosthesis, essentially a knee replacement that's much bigger,” explained Svoboda. “It went up into the femur and down into the tibia to take the tumor out, then I followed that with aggressive chemo, which was very hard, that was around 10 years ago, and I've had a few reoccurrences since then.”
In late May, Svoboda got an infection around his prosthesis, causing him immense pain and sending him into an emergency surgery. The procedure stabilized him just long enough to attend his son’s wedding.
“But when I met with my doctor, he basically said that this infection is holding you back, and you're not gonna get better.”
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Svoboda’s doctors told him the best way to address the MRSA would be to amputate his leg.
“It’s not the news I wanted to hear, but I wanted to get better, I wanna improve, so my wife and I were like 'We're gonna do it, we'll do whatever it takes to get through this,' and that's the choice we made,” said Svoboda.
Now, two weeks removed from the amputation, Svoboda said he’s getting stronger every day, physically and mentally.
“I’m just trying to set goals to get better. I can't sit still and do nothing. I've got another challenge ahead of me, and that's getting a prosthetic.”
It's a challenge he won’t be facing alone.
Like the packed houses of Rupp Arena that once cheered him on, supporters and strangers have shown up for Svoboda, already donating more than $10,000 to a fund for the best prosthetic leg possible.
“It's very humbling,” Svoboda said, fighting back tears. “I've always been the one to help people out, from helping them move to a new house, donating to a wheelchair for a former basketball player, those kinds of things, and when you're on the other end, it's very humbling. When my friend Malcom Jennings set up the page to help me, it just touched my heart.”
To the people who’ve supported him for years now, the strangers donating to his GoFundMe, along with a medical team led by Dr. Patrick O’Donnell at Markey Cancer Center, Svoboda said, “I just wanna say thank you to BBN and all the people that are a part of this journey with me, even the ones I don't know, thank you.”
You can donate to Svoboda’s recovery here.
