anyone know the situation

[MikeG]

with Hakim Shahid? did I miss something? Thought just crossed my mind.

[Guest]

There are going to be people reading this asking "Who is Hakim Shahid?"... but I haven't heard anything on him for quite a few years...

[USF-PMR]

We need the hakim story.

[Brad]

About 2 weeks ago I spent 20-30 minutes searching for up to date info on him, couldn't find anything.

[MikeG]

the last thing I can remember -- and this was probably over a year ago and on this board-- was information about some medical problems he was facing and a fund that was set up to help him out.

[Brad]

That was about 8 years ago.

www.southfloridabulls.com

www.southfloridabulls.com/haki - [Cached]

Published on: 9/11/2001  Last Visited: 7/22/2004

Help Hakim Shahid

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Help Hakim Shahid

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Tampa, Fl, 01-11-00 - Wednesday's Tampa Tribune ran a story covering the current medical situation of Hakim Shahid, one of USF's all-time great players, and his battle against Myasthenia Gravis - a life-threatening disease. Please read the story at the link below. The Tribune also provided an address for a trust fund set up by former Alumni Association President Scott Barnett. I will publish that information and leave it on this page indefinitely. Please do what you can to help Hakim, a much-loved member of our Bulls family.

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Hakim Shahid Support Trust

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Despite having never played organized football, the Buccaneers invited Shahid to try out as a tight end after his college basketball career ended.

Six years later, the once-imposing Shahid, afflicted with Myasthenia Gravis, couldn't lift a fork. His mother had to feed and bathe him.

"I thought I was going to die," Shahid said. "I thought that was the end."

Leland Bard, of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation in Los Angeles, said the disease's mortality rate has dropped from 30 percent in the 1950s to one percent in the 1990s.

Shahid, however, is concerned only with his family's statistics.

He had three sisters. The oldest, Veronica Thompson, was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis in 1992. She died in 1993, three weeks after her 37th birthday.

Shahid is 33.

"I'll be 34 on Aug. 28 - if I make it that long," he said.

AT USF, SHAHID was a relentless rebounder. Listed at 6-7, he was closer to 6-5. Despite his short stature for a power forward, Shahid was the nation's sixth-leading rebounder as a senior, averaging 12.3.

He broke the Sun Belt Conference career rebounding record set by UNC Charlotte's Cedric Maxwell, who later played for the Boston Celtics. Shahid had 25 rebounds in one game.

Shahid's 893 career rebounds still are the most by a Bull and his 64-percent field goal accuracy in 1989-90 is the best in USF history. His 1,252 career points rank sixth on the school's all-time list.

"He [shahid] is an animal," said then-Jacksonville coach Rich Haddad after Shahid scored a career-high 31 points. "He's hurt us every time we've played them."

Bobby Paschal, Shahid's coach at USF, said Shahid was "clearly one of the best players" he coached.

"For a person of his height, he was as strong a rebounder on the defensive boards as anyone I ever coached," Paschal added. "The kind of physical specimen Hakim was as a player, you never anticipate something like this. It is definitely a shock."

Shahid was diagnosed with Myasthenis Gravis in 1995. He first felt the effects of the disease while playing professionally in Indonesia.

"I was doing real well," said Shahid, who played professionally for five seasons throughout Europe.

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Shahid returned to his home near Fort Lauderdale in 1995, and a year after he was diagnosed with the disease, he couldn't walk without assistance.

"He couldn't feed himself, he couldn't walk, I had to give him baths," said Ruby Blake, Shahid's 63-year-old mother.

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INSTEAD OF LIFTING weights and playing basketball, Shahid rests at home in Margate, north of Fort Lauderdale, where he starred at Dillard High School.

He follows USF on television as much as possible.

"That was a big win over Florida State," Shahid said proudly.

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LAST YEAR, SHAHID had to quit his job coaching children at a Fort Lauderdale recreation park. He doesn't know when - or if - he will return to work.

"When this first hit me, it felt like it took my life away," Shahid said.

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"No one understands what this disease is really about," Shahid said.

http://web.archive.org/web/20000302070822/http://southfloridabulls.com/

[Ruger7mmmag]

My mom has MG and it is VERY debilitating.  They gave her 6 months to live when she was diagnosed back in 1979 when they didn't know much about it.  I can't count how many times I road in the ambulance with her thinking she was a goner.  You can be there with them and everything is 100% fine and all of a sudden their neuromuscular system shuts down and they can't breathe or do anything.  As the article said, my dad had to feed, bathe, dress and everything my mom on many occasions while my brother and I were very young.  Luckily, she defied all odds and is still here with us in remission.  But I've seen more ventiliators and ICUs in my time than anyone should ever have to, it's a HORRIBLE disease and you can't test for it.  I'm just hoping like hell I didn't inherit it (29) bc it's BRUTAL.

[SANJAY]

Truly awful for anyone.  He played before I got to USF, but I grew up in the area and his name was always in the papers.  God Bless.

[MikeG]

I will never forget being at those games with his thindering dunks and the cannons going off---and the announcer saying his name wih great emphasis.

[Jake_Ryan]

Hope he's alright.  I remember those dunks like yesterday.  I met him once during his playing days at USF and I'm 6'2" and he wasn't much taller than me.