At least they caught the problem.

Pitt kicker David Abdul will have open-heart surgery June 12 to correct a congenital and potentially life-threatening abnormality.

Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic diagnosed Abdul with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy on Tuesday. The wall in Abdul’s heart is three times larger than normal, which can cause the valve to malfunction and restrict the flow of blood to his body.

“Most of the time, the doctors don’t find it,” Abdul said from his home in Hartville, Ohio. “You just drop dead.”

Three weeks ago, Abdul’s twin brother, Jonathan, underwent emergency surgery after collapsing on a golf course. When doctors determined that hypertrophic cardiomyopathy caused Jonathan Abdul’s blackout, the entire family was tested for the condition.

“My brother is back home, and he’s fine,” David Abdul said. “As of right now, I’m thinking I’ll be playing this season.”

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However, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic discovered that David Abdul has a leaky valve and an unusually thick heart wall. Pitt team doctors did not run tests on Abdul, but they were sent a copy of his test results.

“My surgery is on the 12th, but they’re going to try to get me in sooner if they can,” Abdul said.

Surgeons will shave some of the thickened muscle from Abdul’s septum to widen the outflow tract. After being hospitalized for four or five days, he will begin a rehabilitation that should last two or three months.

Abdul, who hopes to take a class this summer, is enrolled for the fall semester.

“I want to be back playing football this fall,” Abdul said. “I’m planning on it, but we’ll have to see how it goes.”

Seriously, what did David Abdul do in a past life to deserve all that has been happening to him in the last couple of years? Did he torture puppies? What?

Good luck David. Things have to start going right sooner or later.