{"id":854189,"date":"2026-09-20T09:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T09:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/854189\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T09:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T09:32:14","slug":"greg-papa-voice-of-49ers-hospitalized-by-serious-heart-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/854189\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Papa, voice of 49ers, hospitalized by ‘serious’ heart issue"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA CLARA \u2013 Greg Papa<\/a> will be watching the 49ers\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

Papa, who turns 64 on Oct. 10, now is facing the possibility of a heart transplant<\/a> or an alternative procedure.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis one \u2026 I\u2019ve battled hard for a long time. I was in the hospital for 11 weeks, most of it in ICU. I battled hard,\u201d Papa said Saturday in an exclusive phone interview with this news organization<\/a>. \u201cMy body is starting to wear down, I tell you. I\u2019m battling as hard as I can.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou feel you\u2019re surrounded. It\u2019s the lungs, it\u2019s the liver, it\u2019s the kidneys, and now the heart,\u201d Papa added. \u201cI 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\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GregGreg 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)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, Papa spent three to four hours Saturday at his desk \u201cdoing my 49ers board\u201d in preparation for his targeted comeback. Up until last season, he served as the franchise\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

He made a celebrated return to the public spotlight by attending Cal\u2019s football game the night of Sept. 5. The next night, however, he awoke with labored breathing, saying \u201cmy heart was coming through my chest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back to UCSF he went on Sept. 7, and three cardiologists are \u201cin here around the clock\u201d 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\u2019 season which culminated in the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

\"49ers49ers announcer Greg Papa waves to fans at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Shae Hammond\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart had a mutation heading into this and it was tough to protect my heart,\u201d Papa said. \u201cMy heart couldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a mental grind. I\u2019m back in these walls again when I thought I was out,\u201d Papa continued. \u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019re crippled again. We\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Papa\u2019s 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.) \u201cThe real tough one is a heart transplant,\u201d Papa said. \u201cI just had a bone-marrow transplant on March 4. \u2026 We\u2019re going through it all. This whole week has been about accruing data.\u201d<\/p>\n

Papa made a comeback<\/a> late last season to the 49ers\u2019 booth, calling their regular-season finale against the Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n

Last week, Papa made sure to tune in for the 49ers\u2019 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\u2019 alumni.<\/p>\n

Papa, ever the football analyst, said he predicted the 49ers would dominate the Rams (\u201cWe do that to them\u201d). Papa bellowed praise for the 49ers\u2019 complex rushing attack, Mike Evans\u2019 instant connection with Brock Purdy, Nick Bosa\u2019s every-snap dominance, and how the reunion of Fred Warner with Dre Greenlaw made \u201csuch a big difference in the middle of the defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GregGreg 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)\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for the 49ers\u2019 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 \u201cwill play hard\u201d under first-year coach Jeff Hafley, and, \u201cwe need to wear them down. I\u2019ll be watching.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CLARA \u2013 Greg Papa will be watching the 49ers\u2019 home opener Sunday from the painfully familiar setting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[127961,127962,399,360738,10831,2558,349,560,99],"class_list":["post-854189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-49ers-alert","tag-49ers-hq","tag-football","tag-greg-papa","tag-inside-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nfl","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}