Spurs’ Elliott Needs Kidney Transplant

As the San Antonio Spurs drove toward the NBA championship, Sean Elliott kept a frightening secret: He needed a kidney transplant and might be playing his last games.

Doctors said Wednesday that his condition has worsened and the 31-year-old forward hopes to have a transplant as soon as a matching donor is found.

“It’s a situation that I’ve known about for a while, so for me it really hasn’t been a shock,” Elliott said. “Ask me if I’m a little scared, yeah, I’m a little worried.”

Elliott says he has no pain and is upbeat, even hoping to resume his NBA career after the transplant.

The illness affects both kidneys. The healthy donor kidney would be put in Elliott’s body along with the two malfunctioning kidneys, his doctor said. Elliott must have the transplant to avoid dialysis treatment.

Family members underwent blood screening this week to see if they qualify as kidney donors. If there is no family match, Elliott will be put on a transplant waiting list.

Dr. John Reineck, a kidney specialist who has been treating Elliott, said there is no precedent for a professional athlete returning to a sport after a kidney transplant.

Elliott learned of his condition after about four years in the league. His disease is known as focal segmental glomerular sclerosis, one of a variety of kidney diseases that result in severe, prolonged loss of protein into the urine. Its cause is not clear.

Reineck said the disease, untreated, could lead to exhaustion, nausea and weight loss. But he said Elliott has “an excellent long-term prognosis for living a normal life.”