BleedGopher
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per KARE 11:
As we all get ready for Thanksgiving, many are focused on thankfulness.
Ben Williams loves his family, football and is grateful for his health.
The former defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings is recovering after a kidney transplant at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center, and waiting to go home.
“Everybody is asking me when I am getting out of here," Williams said. "I told them, ‘I don't care if I have to stay,’” he said.
Williams, who also played football for the University of Minnesota, has learned how to wait. For six years, he was on a waiting list for a new kidney.
“I found out my life was going to have two paths: Hooked up to a dialysis machine, five days a week, four hours a day for the rest of my life, or get a transplant,” he said. “You start to ask yourself, is this meant to happen? Is it going to happen? I started to lose hope.”
But the wait for Williams ended the day he was supposed to start using machines to stay alive.
“I woke up the next day and felt like I could go back and play again. I felt 18 again. I now have a functional kidney,” he said from his hospital bed Tuesday. “It dawned on me this morning, 72 hours ago I was mentally preparing myself for the next five days of starting to put those needles in my arm myself at home.”
www.kare11.com
Go Gophers!!
As we all get ready for Thanksgiving, many are focused on thankfulness.
Ben Williams loves his family, football and is grateful for his health.
The former defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings is recovering after a kidney transplant at M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center, and waiting to go home.
“Everybody is asking me when I am getting out of here," Williams said. "I told them, ‘I don't care if I have to stay,’” he said.
Williams, who also played football for the University of Minnesota, has learned how to wait. For six years, he was on a waiting list for a new kidney.
“I found out my life was going to have two paths: Hooked up to a dialysis machine, five days a week, four hours a day for the rest of my life, or get a transplant,” he said. “You start to ask yourself, is this meant to happen? Is it going to happen? I started to lose hope.”
But the wait for Williams ended the day he was supposed to start using machines to stay alive.
“I woke up the next day and felt like I could go back and play again. I felt 18 again. I now have a functional kidney,” he said from his hospital bed Tuesday. “It dawned on me this morning, 72 hours ago I was mentally preparing myself for the next five days of starting to put those needles in my arm myself at home.”
Former Vikings & Gophers player Ben Williams gives thanks after kidney transplant
“I woke up the next day and felt like I could go back and play again," Williams said.
www.kare11.com
Go Gophers!!