College Baseball Star Receives Kidney from His Own Coach

Feb. 10, 2011— -- For Wake Forest University baseball coach Tom Walter, it was a kind of "divine intervention" that led him to donate his kidney to freshman outfielder Kevin Jordan.

"I feel I was meant to be here with Kevin," said 42-year-old Walter, whose players call him "Walt." "I don't consider myself a hero. It's just doing the right thing."

Walter recruited Jordan, now 19, to play baseball at Wake Forest following his graduation from Northside-Columbus High School in Columbus, Ga., in 2010.

But during the winter of 2010, Jordan's health rapidly began to decline. He suffered for weeks with flu-like symptoms, until doctors at Emory University Hospital found Jordan's kidneys were only functioning at 15 to 20 percent of capacity. Doctors diagnosed Jordan with ANCA vasculitis, a type of swelling caused by antibodies attacking his body tissue.

Doctors said that Jordan's diagnosis was sudden. It is the type of disease that comes on very quickly and does not have clear early symptoms.

Jordan started dialysis three times a week. As his condition worsened, doctors made the dialysis daily. Two days before he enrolled at Wake Forest for the fall semester, doctors told Jordan he needed a kidney transplant as soon as possible. Jordan completed the first semester of school while receiving dialysis.

"I didn't really think about [dialysis] shortening my life, but the whole time I was thinking: something is going to happen and I'll get better," said Jordan.

While doctors discussed Jordan's treatment and prognosis with Walter and a trainer, "our mouths were hanging open," said Walter. "We couldn't believe what he had endured. I made the decision immediately that if I could help, I would."

After Jordan's mother and brother were not found to be good donor matches, Walter was tested.

Walter learned he was a match in late January of this year. When he told his team a week ago that he'd be donating his kidney, the players gave him a round of applause.