“I need a kidney.”
http://gty.im/875361608
In an interview with Michael Rothstein of ESPN, former Detroit Lions defensive end Armonty Bryant opened up about being on dialysis and needing a kidney.
Back in July of 2018, Bryant took to Instagram to reveal he was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure and that he had decided to retire from the NFL.
However hard this may be, and although not the way I wanted to end my career, God has a funny way of timing things out in our lives. Just before I got a chance to finish my career strong I was diagnosed with end stage renal failure. Due to this I am forced to announce my official retirement from the sport I have eaten, breathed, slept, dreamt and loved for my entire life. But this isn’t the end. This is just the beginning of so much more that is coming. I have started a business with a woman I soon get to call my wife. And these opportunities we have together are endless. This is just the start of something out of this world huge! Be ready and stay tuned for all that’s coming from the Bryant’s!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlLzTl1jO_D/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
In Rothstein’s piece, he detailed what Bryant’s daily routine now looks like since being put on dialysis.
From ESPN:
Armonty Bryant wakes up every morning, gets out of bed and for most of the day can’t leave his bedroom. He wants to. He would give almost anything to. He must stay.
Bryant takes four pills for his blood pressure and gets to work. It’s a different job than the one he had before as an NFL defensive lineman who was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2013 and last played for the Detroit Lions in 2016. It’s one he doesn’t get paid for, but one he must complete in order to live.
He begins his arduous daily process here, starting with hanging a new bag of dialysis solution on his IV pole. For 50 minutes he sits in the San Diego bedroom he shares with his wife, Kim. He connects the solution to a catheter coming out of his abdomen. He then drains his body of the old solution that has been filtering his blood, a step that takes 15 to 20 minutes. Next, he fills his abdomen with the new solution, completing a round of peritoneal dialysis. When the bag is empty, he gets up and caps it before he heads off to make breakfast and start his day.
“In the beginning, I didn’t even have an appetite. I couldn’t eat before starting dialysis. I was eating one to two meals a day, not really even hungry,” Bryant said in a particularly low moment last month. “I’ve lost so much weight and it’s so depressing. It’s not me, you know?
“Like, when I look in the mirror, I don’t see myself. I see a sick person. I see a tube coming out of my stomach. I don’t see Armonty Bryant.”
To read the rest of the amazing piece by Michael Rothstein and to see Bryant’s plea for anyone to give him a kidney, please click here.
