NBA superstar fights kidney disease
By Kat Carney
CNN Headline News
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Alonzo Mourning
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(CNN) -- There's an old saying, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." But when NBA superstar Alonzo Mourning was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, he proved that the bigger you are, the harder you fight.
"I asked three questions," Mourning said. "'Am I going to live?' ' Will I be able to play basketball again?' 'And is there a cure for it?'"
According the National Institutes of Health, about 20 million Americans suffer from chronic kidney disease, and it's a major cause of illness and sometimes death.
Mourning's doctors were alerted to a problem during an annual physical, and the prognosis wasn't good. "Initially they said, 'Hey you've got about 12 months before you will need to go on dialysis, before you will be up for transplantation,'" he remembers. "They told me that this could be a detriment to my career and things could change. And they did."
Mourning's condition and treatment forced him to sit out of the 2002-2003 NBA season. But he was determined to beat the odds. "I sent my attorney and my agent down and said look find the best nephrologist in the country."
Under his new physician's guidance, Mourning also made several lifestyle changes. "I got away from all the fast foods all the fried foods. I cut back on the sodium. I eat a lot of fish, a lot of roughage. It took some time but as I got adapted to that way of living I started feeling better."
After several months, Mourning's doctor said he had improved enough to return to basketball. He recently signed a four-year deal to play for the New Jersey Nets, but knows it's just another step in a long journey.
"I have beat the odds. But at the same time I am still dealing with the disorder. And I am trying to keep it in remission."
Mourning realizes he has advantages that many other with his condition don't.
"It would have been different if I didn't have the resources, if I didn't have the finances. If I didn't have all that, then I probably would have been a statistic already."
To help people who aren't as fortunate, he's joined with a pharmaceutical firm to start a foundation that covers the costs of expensive medications. He also tries to raise awareness as a paid spokesman for the Rebound From Anemia Campaign.
As for basketball?
He says, "I am anxiously waiting to get back on the court. I feel like I've got a lot of basketball left in me."
