Baseball Hall of Famer Rod Carew received a new heart and kidney from former NFL player Konrad Reuland in what is believed to be the first such transplant involving pro athletes.
Carew underwent the procedure in December and met Reuland's family in March after mutual friends connected Reuland's death with news of Carew's transplant Dec. 16. Reuland had died four days earlier after a ruptured brain aneurysm at age 29.
Reuland attended middle school in Southern California with Carew's children, and he met Carew when he was 11.
"The whole thing is just unbelievable," Carew told American Heart Association News. "I've been given a second chance, so I'm going to take advantage of it, and I've got another family."
Reuland played tight end for the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens. He also spent time with the San Francisco 49ers and Indianapolis Colts, who released him in August.
The only details the Carew family received before the transplant were that the donor was "male, late 20s, local, exceptionally healthy."
The Reulands were told the recipient was a 71-year-old man from Orange County.
The two men's blood type was the same, but the key factor was both were immune from Hepatitis B. No one ahead of Carew on the transplant list was immune.
Reuland's parents, Ralf and Mary, and their youngest son Austin took turns listening through a stethoscope to Konrad's heart beating inside Carew's chest when they met the former baseball star and his wife, Rhonda, according to the American Heart Association News.
"We are so thankful, so grateful, so there aren't adequate words," Rhonda Carew told the Reulands.
Last fall, Reuland was on a treadmill when he experienced a severe headache. The aneurysm, a ballooning in an artery in his brain, burst a few days later. He underwent surgery, but never woke up from a coma. His brain activity stopped a few weeks later.
During the final hours Mary Reuland spent with her oldest child, she kept her right ear on his chest. Her final words to the representative of the organ procurement network were, "Make sure his heart goes to a really good person because Konrad was a really good person."
Carew's health issues began in September 2015 when he had a near fatal heart attack while playing golf. He spent a year with a left ventricular assist device in his chest handling the work of his damaged heart.
Carew went on the transplant waiting list the Friday before Thanksgiving and moved higher a few weeks later. He got the call that a match was found on Dec. 14. He received the heart and kidney two days later.
Grounded
Former Kentucky guard Isaiah Briscoe's path to the NBA Draft almost took an interesting route.
Talking to Kentucky Sports Radio last week, Briscoe revealed he was supposed to be on United Flight 3411, which garnered headlines around the world after airport police forcibly removed a passenger who refused to surrender his seat despite the demand of management.
The passenger, David Dao, had paid for his seat, but a sellout led to Dao being randomly chosen to give up his seat. When he didn't, authorities physically took him out, resulting in Dao suffering multiple injuries.
Briscoe said a set of circumstances led to him not boarding the flight, which was going from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to Louisville (Ky.) International Airport.
"I showed the lady my pass, and she told me I was on standby, and I wasn't on standby, so I moved to the side and watched my plane; I watched the people board my plane," Briscoe said. "I went back up, and the guy told me that I missed my plane."
Briscoe was asked whether he would've given up his seat in that situation.
"There's no way. Absolutely not," Briscoe said. "I don't know what would've happened, but I would not have been dragged off that plane."
QUIZ
Where does Rod Carew rank on the MLB all-time hits list?
ANSWER
Carew ranks 24th with 3,053 hits.
Sports on 04/16/2017