WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- A North Carolina university baseball coach and the ballplayer to whom he donated a kidney are recuperating in the hospital, the coach said.
Tom Walter, 42, a coach at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, said he decided to give freshman Kevin Jordan his kidney when no members of Jordan's family turned up a match for the transplant, the Charlotte Observer reported Tuesday.
Jordan is a talented outfielder who was drafted last year in the 19th round by the New York Yankees but has been too sick to play ball since he arrived at college in 2009, the Observer reported.
Jordan has a condition that led to kidney failure, and by last summer, he was on dialysis three times per week, the Observer said.
"I wanted to help this young man. When we recruit our guys, we talk about family and making sacrifices for one another. It's something we take very seriously," Walter said.
"Kevin showing up on our campus was a courageous act on his part. Far more courageous than anything I'm doing. For him being a freshman, not knowing anyone on campus, having to be in his room on dialysis, took an incredible courage," said Walter, the father of children ages 8 and 11.
