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Local Stories - Team Kentucky
Bill D'Antoni, 41
Louisville , Kentucky
Twenty one years ago, Bill D'Antoni, who was born with only one kidney, was a sophomore at University of Louisville, doing landscaping work in the summertime to make some extra spending money and giving blood on a regular basis as his way to “help out.”
It was during one of those donations that nurses discovered Bill’s hemoglobin was dangerously low. After a quick visit to his pediatrician and numerous tests, he was immediately put on dialysis because his kidney was failing.
Eighteen months later, Bill’s life changed forever. On January 15, 1987, he received a kidney from the family of a deceased young man in Augusta, Georgia. A few months later, he wrote the donor family a letter to thank them, which, he says, could never come close to truly expressing what he feels they did for him.
“You can say thank you for someone who opens a door or lets you cut a line, but how can the same words be enough to tell your donor family that they truly saved your life?” Bill said. “For the rest of my life, I will thank them for their courage and for giving me the opportunity to enjoy my family.”
This week, Bill is competing in badminton, golf and basketball events at the 2006 U.S. Transplant Games.
“The Games show you that all these people whose lives mirror yours have the same problems and they’ve made it,” Bill says.
