courtesy of flexonline
DON LONG RECEIVES KIDNEY TRANSPLANT
IFBB pro Don Long, who left the sport due to kidney failure, has finally received a kidney transplant. FLEXonline spoke with Don recently while he rested in a hospital in the Washington D.C. area, and he told us things were coming along fine. The 1995 NPC National champ has always been upbeat about his prognosis even as he struggled with regular dialysis treatments.
How Don received his transplant was a national news story. Since nobody in his immediate family was a match to be a donor, Don was placed on a waiting list and was expected to wait years for a transplant. However, his older sister, Michelle, volunteered for a new living donor program with the Washington Regional Transplant Consortium, and donated a kidney in early March to a third party. In fact, Michelle Long was the first person to take advantage of this program. An Air Force Technical sergeant, Michelle’s generous action moved her brother to the top of the transplant list, and a couple of weeks later, he received his new kidney.
We’ll present all the details of this uplifting story in an interview with Don in the July 2002 FLEX, on newsstands June 4. Until then, we’ll keep you up to date on Don Long’s continuing odyssey here on FLEXonline
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