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Lamar Odom Feared To Have Brain Damage, Does Not Recognize Close Friends, Relatives

By Val Powell
Published on: 18:55 PST, Nov 15, 2015

Since waking up from his coma a few weeks ago, ex-NBA star Lamar Odom is having difficulty recovering, and some doctors believe that he may have suffered serious brain damage.

The former Los Angeles Laker is reportedly having a tough time getting his motor and communication skills back to normal. Odom has, so far, been only be able to speak a word here and there, and at times he seems “empty.”

However, what’s more troubling is that Odom, 36, is incapable of recognizing long-time friends and family members.

When Lamar Odom was rushed to a Las Vegas hospital on Oct. 13, doctors doubted that he would ever be the same again. The former pro basketball player also had multiple organ failure, and some believed that he would not wake up from his coma.

Until now, there are no details about whether Odom took illegal substances at his own will, or if he was drugged by someone else during his stay at the Nevada brothel. However, Lamar Odom beat the odds a couple of weeks ago, and was able to say his first words after being hospitalized. He reportedly was able to communicate briefly with his estranged wife Khloe Kardashian and his children.

Aside from Lamar’s inability to recognize people close to him, Khloe Kardashian revealed that he is oblivious as to why he was hospitalized in the first place. She said in an interview that she didn’t want to tell Odom that he suffered a brain injury because it might “set him back” on his road to recovery.

However, the reality show star said that Odom is trying his best to recover.

“He is off all the machines that help his organs but he has such a long way to go,” Kardashian revealed. “He’s learning how to walk again and feed himself again and put sentences together. Cognitively there is a lot… it’s a long long road ahead.”

During a TV appearance on the daytime talk show Ellen, where Kardashian was promoting her new book, Strong Looks Better Naked, she said that Odom has yet to be told about what really happened to him.

She also said that while Lamar Odom appears to remember things in some cases, he sometimes forgets them later.

Khloe Kardashian Talks On Ellen About Lamar Odom

“Sometimes he knows who the president is, and his birthday, and other times he thinks he’s 26, and I say: “I bet you wish you were 26, so do I,” she said in the talk show.

While Khloe and the whole Kardashian clan said that it would be a long road to recovery for Lamar Odom, they appreciate the support from people, and recognize the “power of prayer.”

Kardashian also clarified in the interview that she did not proceed with the divorce from Lamar simply because she believes there is no need to rush it. She said that she will always love Odom, as much as her family does.

It was apparently the Kardashian family who reportedly advised Khloe to leave Odom and do something for herself – and that was to hit the gym.

The 31-year-old reality star and book author, who started working out with sister Kendal Jenner, said that she felt like a “human again.”

“I just felt so good. But for those three weeks, I didn’t think about the gym because I was thinking about other things, and I don’t beat myself up about it,” she said in the interview. Kardashian added that the gym is the best place to get “emotional release.”

Now that Lamar Odom is slowly recuperating from his injuries, Khloe has begun to pay more attention to her fitness, her newly-released book, and her boyfriend, James Harden, whom she said has been very understanding of the situation.

[Image by Chris Trotman / Getty Images]

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