Walls' sacrifice too good to be kept under wraps this Christmas
Just when sports pokes another stick into your stomach -- Terrell Owens' spit, Carmelo Anthony's slap, Shawne Merriman's steroids -- along comes a story suitable for the holidays.
Everson Walls is giving a kidney to Ron Springs.
There. Isn't that beautiful? Everson Walls, the former Dallas Cowboys cornerback, donating a kidney to Ron Springs, the former Cowboys fullback.
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| Ron Springs (left) will receive a kidney from long-time pal Everson Walls. (AP) |
How can Everson Walls compete with a drunk, naked coach from the Lions? He can't, and best of all, he didn't even try. Walls wanted his gift to Springs to be a secret, and not just from you and me. Walls wasn't even going to tell his family. Not until after the operation was complete and successful, and maybe not even then.
For now, perhaps forever, this was supposed to be something between Walls and Springs, a change from the usual scenario where a famous person does something charitable (and tax-deductible) and announces it with a press release.
The only reason we know about Walls' gift to Springs is because Springs' son, Shawn Springs of the Washington Redskins, spilled it to the Washington Post. This miracle was too much for Shawn Springs to keep to himself. So sue him.
On Dec. 18, the same day the NFL was fining Owens $35,000 for spitting into another player's face, the same day the NBA was announcing suspensions to Anthony and other participants in the Knicks-Nuggets brawl, Walls finally acknowledged his gift of a kidney.
"What are you going to do?" Walls told reporters in Texas. "I can't sit here and do nothing."
Why not? Lots of people do nothing. Each day, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 90,000 Americans await organ donations, most needing a kidney. Doing nothing is easy. It's not going to help those 90,000 poor souls, but that's not our problem, is it?
For Everson Walls, this was his problem. He and Springs were teammates from 1981-84, and close friends since then. Close enough that Walls knew when Springs was diagnosed with diabetes in 1993. Close enough that Walls saw the catastrophic effect the disease has had on Springs. The kidneys were the first to go, three years ago. Then went his right foot, which had to be amputated two years ago. The dialysis that cleans Springs' blood and keeps him alive has had the unfortunate side effect of curling his hands into unusable hooks.
Family members tried to help Springs. A niece and nephew were found to be a match, but the niece got pregnant and the nephew has weak kidneys. Doctors ruled both of them out.
So Walls had himself tested for compatibility. Didn't tell Springs or anyone else. Just had himself tested, despite the odds. According to the non-profit LifeLink Foundation, more than 136,000 kidney transplants have been performed in the United States since 1980. Most donors (70 percent) are dead and unrelated to the recipient. Less than one-third of the kidneys come from a living relative. A gift like Walls' to Springs, friend to friend? That accounts for less than 1 percent.
