Achille Polonara Returns to Basketball Training Following Life-Threatening Leukemia Battle

Achille Polonara, a 34-year-old forward for Dinamo Sassari, returned to the basketball court for individual training at PalaSerradimigni in Sassari in late March 2026, posting videos of his first shots at the basket on Instagram after a ten-month battle with myeloid leukemia. The Italian national team forward, born in 1991, shared two short clips of his solo session on his Instagram stories, offering what multiple Italian outlets described as a signal of optimism and hope. The return marked his first contact with a basketball court since his diagnosis in June 2025, which interrupted the 2024/25 Scudetto finals. Polonara described the moment in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport as deeply emotional, noting that the physical sensation of handling the ball gradually returned as the session progressed.

„Taking the ball in my hands again after ten months was emotional, beautiful. At the beginning it felt like it was the first time I played basketball, then shot after shot the sensitivity returned more and more.” — Achille Polonara via La Gazzetta dello Sport

Transplant, embolism, and days in a coma Polonara's path back to the court involved a series of severe medical crises that, at one point, left his survival in serious doubt. After his diagnosis in June 2025, he underwent a period of chemotherapy preparation and also followed a cycle of experimental treatments in Valencia, Spain, before proceeding to surgery. On September 25, 2025, he underwent a bone marrow transplant at the Sant'Orsola hospital in Bologna, using stem cells from an American female donor who was a 90% match. The surgery was reported as successful, and Polonara subsequently reassured fans through social media. However, on October 16, 2025, he suffered a cerebral embolism that caused a lack of oxygen to the brain, and doctors placed him in a medically induced coma to protect vital areas. His wife, Erika Bufano, told the Italian television program "Le Iene" that his chances of survival at that point were very low. He recounted the full ordeal in an autobiographical volume he titled "Second Half," a phrase he used to describe his return to sporting activity.

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Contact training with teammates set for after summer Polonara was careful to frame his return in measured terms, emphasizing that full team training remains months away. He told La Gazzetta dello Sport that his current focus is on individual work, particularly physical conditioning, and that the shooting seen in his Instagram videos represented the very first time he had attempted shots since his illness. He explained that he must avoid traumas and bruises during this phase of recovery, which means contact training with his Dinamo Sassari teammates will not begin until after the summer of 2026. According to Il Giornale, Polonara's stated goal is to recover in time for the end of the current championship, though the outlet noted that the priority remains winning his health battle, even if a more gradual return proves necessary. The PalaSerradimigni arena holds particular significance for Polonara, as it served as his basketball home during his first stint with Dinamo Sassari from 2017 to 2019, according to Corriere della Sera.

„I learned to appreciate much more the things that I previously took for granted, they seemed normal to me. Then when you find yourself in a hospital bed your perspective, your point of view changes.” — Achille Polonara via La Gazzetta dello Sport

A career interrupted at its peak by an unexpected diagnosis Achille Polonara was born in Ancona on November 23, 1991, and built a career that included winning a Supercoppa Italiana with Pallacanestro Reggiana in 2015 and a FIBA Europe Cup with Dinamo Sassari in the 2018-19 season, according to his Wikipedia entry. He also won a national championship during his career. Dinamo Sassari, founded in 1960, is the first and only Sardinian club to have won the Italian basketball Scudetto, a title the club claimed in the 2014-15 season. The club is based in Sassari and competes at PalaSerradimigni.

The diagnosis of myeloid leukemia arrived without warning in June 2025, in the middle of the Scudetto finals, cutting short what had been an active competitive season. Polonara's case drew widespread attention in Italy both because of his profile as a member of the national team and because of the severity of the complications that followed his transplant. The cerebral embolism in October 2025 transformed what had initially appeared to be a successful surgical outcome into a fight for his life, with his wife publicly describing the gravity of the situation on national television. His return to the court, even in the limited form of an individual training session, was covered across major Italian sports and news outlets including ANSA, Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, Adnkronos, and Rai News. The videos he posted on Instagram were received as a broader symbol of recovery, with outlets framing the images of him shooting at the basket as among the most meaningful sports news of recent months in Italy.