WAITING GAME

Ex-NBA Star Nate Robinson Desperately In Need of a Kidney

Robinson’s kidneys failed six years ago after the player was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2006.

Nate Robinson, former three-time slam dunk NBA champion, really needs a kidney donation. The ex-player opened up about life on the waiting list for the vital organ on Tuesday in an interview with Men’s Health. Robinson told the magazine that his kidneys were functioning at less than 15 percent of their optimal capacity. He also expressed his concerns about how being Black may affect how quickly he can find a new one: “The Black people I know that go through this—[getting a kidney] is always harder for them,” he said. After retiring from the NBA in 2015, where he played 11 seasons for eight different NBA teams, including the New York Knicks, Robinson now needs dialysis “three days a week just to live.” He needs a kidney from a donor with the blood type A+ or O. According to statistics compiled by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, less than one-third of the patients who were placed on the national waitlist for a kidney received one within three years.