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March 28, 2024

Lamar Odom’s spiral leaves former NBA star fighting for his life

Lamar Odom

Evan Agostini / Invision / AP

In this April 30, 2012, file photo, Khloe Kardashian Odom and Lamar Odom from the show “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” attend an E! Network upfront event at Gotham Hall in New York.

Updated Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015 | 9:05 p.m.

Love Ranch

A sign advertises the Love Ranch brothel, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015, in Crystal, where former NBA basketball player Lamar Odom was found unconscious the day before. Launch slideshow »
Click to enlarge photo

Members of the media stand outside Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center while waiting for word about Lamar Odom on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, in Las Vegas. Odom, a former NBA basketball player, was hospitalized after he was found unconscious at a Nevada brothel, authorities said.

Former basketball star Lamar Odom had taken cocaine Saturday, days before being found unresponsive at the Love Ranch brothel about 20 miles north of Pahrump, brothel workers told police.

Odom, 35, was found breathing but unresponsive Tuesday by employees of the brothel, located in Crystal, according to the Nye County Sheriff's Office and a statement from establishment owner Dennis Hof.

He had blood coming from his nose and when he was turned on his side by workers, a white substance came from his nose and mouth, workers can be heard saying on a 911 call.

Odom, the estranged husband of TV star Khloe Kardashian, arrived at the brothel alone and spent four days "socializing with some of my girls and staff," Hof said in a statement.

Kardashian filed for divorce in December 2013, but the divorce has not been finalized.

The media director for Hof’s Bunny Ranch, Richard Hunter, called the Nye County Dispatch Center about 3:15 p.m. to report a medical emergency and request an ambulance for an unresponsive male at Love Ranch, according to a statement from the sheriff's office.

The sheriff's office had also received a call from a brothel worker who requested an ambulance and indicated Odom had blood coming from his nose.

He was not seen taking any drugs at the brothel but had taken about 10 sexual enhancement herbal supplements provided by the brothel, according to Hunter.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in June 2013 about Reload, the sexual enhancers Hunter said were found in Odom's room.

Lab tests showed they contain sildenafil, an ingredient also found in the FDA-approved Viagra drug.

"This undeclared ingredient may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs such as nitroglycerin and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels," according to the FDA statement. "Men with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart disease often take nitrates."

Police have received a warrant for a blood sample, which could determine if Odom suffered drug- or alcohol-related issues. It will be tested by Metro Police, the sheriff's office said.

An ambulance arrived about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and took Odom to Desert View Hospital in Pahrump, the sheriff's office said.

He arrived at the hospital about 40 minutes later and was treated by physicians with plans to transport him by helicopter to another hospital, the office said.

However, the 6-foot-10-inch, 230-pound Odom couldn't be transported by air due to his height and was instead taken by a Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Service ambulance to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas, according to the sheriff's office.

Friends and former teammates have taken to social media to express their support for Odom, a first-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Clippers in 1999 who later spent seven seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.

He returned to the Clippers for one season in 2012.

"What most people don't realize about Lamar Odom is that he's a better person than he is a basketball player," basketball legend and former Laker Magic Johnson tweeted this morning, saying that he was praying for the star.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who attended the Democratic presidential debate Tuesday at the Wynn, visited Odom in the hospital this morning, and Kardashian was present, he said on Twitter.

Brothel workers told Hunter that Odom didn't exhibit any erratic or suicidal behavior but that he did receive a phone call Monday that "seemed to bum him out," Hunter said at the brothel Tuesday night.

Odom was arrested in August 2013 on suspicion of drunken driving in Los Angeles and pleaded no contest.

His struggles have been chronicled on the TV show "Keeping Up with the Kardashians."

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