SANTA CLARA – Greg Papa will be watching the 49ers’ home opener Sunday from the painfully familiar setting of a San Francisco hospital room rather than the broadcast booth, where he was intent on returning until a heart condition flared up two weeks ago.
Papa, who turns 64 on Oct. 10, now is facing the possibility of a heart transplant or an alternative procedure.
This comes after intense life-saving measures since July 2025, when he was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He received a bone marrow transplant this past March before both of his lungs collapsed and hospitalized him for 78 days.
“This one … I’ve battled hard for a long time. I was in the hospital for 11 weeks, most of it in ICU. I battled hard,” Papa said Saturday in an exclusive phone interview with this news organization. “My body is starting to wear down, I tell you. I’m battling as hard as I can.
“You feel you’re surrounded. It’s the lungs, it’s the liver, it’s the kidneys, and now the heart,” Papa added. “I feel fatigued in trying to figure it out. I do PT every day trying to eat and trying to get strong for whatever procedure I do. It’s frustrating.”
Greg Papa, the radio voice of the San Francisco 49ers watches game film of a pre season game on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in San Rafael, Calif. Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
Two weeks ago, Papa spent three to four hours Saturday at his desk “doing my 49ers board” in preparation for his targeted comeback. Up until last season, he served as the franchise’s play-by-play radio voice since 2019, after previous stints with the Warriors (1986-97), the Raiders (1997-2018), the Athletics (1990-2003), and the Giants (2004-08), as well as hosting afternoon radio shows on 95.7 The Game and KNBR 680-AM, the latter of which announced last week his return after a stunning dismissal Aug. 5.
He made a celebrated return to the public spotlight by attending Cal’s football game the night of Sept. 5. The next night, however, he awoke with labored breathing, saying “my heart was coming through my chest.”
Back to UCSF he went on Sept. 7, and three cardiologists are “in here around the clock” tracking what he acknowledges is advanced heart failure. In May 2023, he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and relied on medication to discretely carry out his workload that 49ers’ season which culminated in the Super Bowl.
49ers announcer Greg Papa waves to fans at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
“My heart had a mutation heading into this and it was tough to protect my heart,” Papa said. “My heart couldn’t take the medicine it needed to get better because it was in contrast with the chemo and all the other things I needed to take to stay alive.
“It’s a mental grind. I’m back in these walls again when I thought I was out,” Papa continued. “I’m right back in it doing this step-by-step physical therapy, trying to crawl my way to the goal line again. You never quite feel like you won but you feel like you turned it around and there were better days ahead. Then all of a sudden, boom, you’re crippled again. We’ll figure it out.”
Papa’s game plan consists of three play calls: 1.) Medication, which is stabilizing somewhat; 2.) Having an LVAD pump inserted next to his heart via open-chest surgery; 3.) “The real tough one is a heart transplant,” Papa said. “I just had a bone-marrow transplant on March 4. … We’re going through it all. This whole week has been about accruing data.”
Papa made a comeback late last season to the 49ers’ booth, calling their regular-season finale against the Seattle Seahawks.
Last week, Papa made sure to tune in for the 49ers’ 27-7 season-opening victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Australia, and he did so at an event in Novato with a few 49ers’ alumni.
Papa, ever the football analyst, said he predicted the 49ers would dominate the Rams (“We do that to them”). Papa bellowed praise for the 49ers’ complex rushing attack, Mike Evans’ instant connection with Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa’s every-snap dominance, and how the reunion of Fred Warner with Dre Greenlaw made “such a big difference in the middle of the defense.”
Greg Papa, left, throws a football with his son Skyler Shapiro, 11, on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in San Rafael, Calif. Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
As for the 49ers’ home opener that he hoped to call in the booth next to Tim Ryan (a role Guy Haberman has respectfully assumed), Papa warned that the youth-laden Dolphins “will play hard” under first-year coach Jeff Hafley, and, “we need to wear them down. I’ll be watching.”
The David Benzer Strike Out Fear Foundation, a 501(c)(3)nonprofit, has established a GoFundMe campaign to help ease the financial burden of Greg’s long recovery period. Funds will be used to assist with everyday living expenses while Greg is unable to work, and medical out-of-pocket expenses not fully covered by insurance including medical co-pays, uncovered medications, and home healthcare. Those wishing to support Greg can visit: support.strikeoutfear.org/helpgregpapabeatcancer