Mouring After

Basketball became just a game Monday for Miami Heat center Alonzo Mourning. In an announcement that put his immediate plans and those of his teammates on hold, Mourning said he’ll sit out this NBA season to treat a kidney disorder.

“I feel great right now,” he said at a news conference in Miami. “We’ve pretty much got a hold on it, the whole situation right now. The main objective is to get me healthy so I can live my life normally, so I can see my babies grow up and so I can enjoy my family.

“And at the same time, possibly do the things that I know and love--and that’s the game of basketball. But the key right now is to get me healthy.”

Two prominent kidney specialists who are treating Mourning, Gerald Appel and Victor Richards, said they could not predict if or when Mourning might return.

Mourning will be put on a six-month treatment program for the disease, focal glomerulosclerosis, which doctors said responds to medication in about half the cases--but can lead to kidney failure in the other half.

Appel said the disease causes the kidneys to leak protein into the patient’s urine. Without treatment, he added, filters in the kidneys become scarred, cease to function and a transplant becomes necessary.

“Right now, his kidney function is good,” Appel said. “He is not in a situation where we’re talking about dialysis or a transplant. Many of the patients, when we turn off the protein entirely with these medications, they come off the medications and lead an absolutely normal life and they can do whatever they want.

“If they’re a schoolteacher, they go back to that. If they’re a lawyer or a doctor, they go back to that. And if they’re a basketball player, they go back to that.”

It was an upbeat Mourning who made the announcement, starting by thanking everyone who had called or written, even joking with reporters about speculating about his illness and quoting friends, relatives and sources.

“I want to thank everybody for their patience,” Mourning said, laughing. “Well, not everybody . . .

“I’ve always said this: I’m a blessed individual. I have a great deal to be thankful for. Throughout the years, God has blessed me with a great deal and I know this and I know there’s a whole lot of other people out there who are a whole lot worse off than me.

“The sympathy that has been given, that’s not going to get me through it. What’s going to get me through it is everybody being positive and upbeat around me and just thinking nothing but good things.”

Mourning’s absence had been hanging over the Heat since he left after the first day of training camp two weeks ago, complaining of fatigue and lethargy.

That was first thought to have resulted from his hectic travel schedule. He had flown more than 40,000 miles recently, going to Australia with the U.S. Olympic team, flying home for the birth of his second child, then turning right around and flying back to Sydney to lead the team to a gold medal before finally returning to Miami.

However, word soon surfaced the doctors were concerned about his kidneys. Mourning called San Antonio’s Sean Elliott, who last season became the first professional athlete to play after a transplant, for advice.

‘There’s a lot of questions that he had, basically,” Elliott said. “I know how he feels right now, as far as fatigue-wise. When I first went to the doctor, I felt terrible. I can sympathize with him.”

With Mourning, the Heat was favored to finish atop the Eastern Division. Without him, Miami may struggle to make the playoffs.

“I think the most important thing is that a plan has been prescribed,” said Heat President-Coach Pat Riley.

“There are a lot of things more important than basketball. It’s really a three-pronged approach from our part and, of course, from Zo’s part. And in speaking with Zo, we do know the most important aspect of his life is his family and to make sure that he’s going to provide for them--and he will for a long period of time, I can assure you of that.

“And the second priority is his health and that’s what we’re talking. We’re here to make sure that what is prescribed for Alonzo is going to be best in terms of his family and his health.

“And Alonzo Mourning will not be playing professional basketball this season. We are totally convinced that the only thing that should be on his mind, our mind, is to get him healthy.”

In Los Angeles, Laker players were downcast after Monday’s practice.

“It’s a big blow to him and his family as well as the Heat organization,” guard Brian Shaw said. “I think all the guys around the league collectively are pulling for him to recover and do well, because he’s a consummate professional.

“It just goes to show nothing’s promised. You have to make the most of the time that you have, and he’s done that. He’s going to have a lot of support, a lot of people praying for him.”

“It’s kind of sad,” said Shaquille O’Neal, who has had his personal and professional battles with Mourning. “Zo has always made me play my best. I hope he’s OK and I hope everything goes as planned.”

Mourning was the NBA’s defensive player of the year for the last two seasons and finished third in last spring’s MVP balloting.

With him, the Heat had won or tied for four consecutive Atlantic Division titles and were then reinforced over the off-season by the addition of Eddie Jones and Brian Grant.

As recently as Saturday, when the Heat last played, Riley and his players were hoping Mourning would be back soon.

“Basketball is going to be our therapy,” Jones said Monday. “We have to continue to go out and play basketball to try to get over this shock.”

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Times staff writer Tim Brown and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Sidelining disease

The Miami Heat’s Alonzo Mourning has been diagnosed with a kidney disease that can cause failure. Kidneys function as part of the urinary system to regulate the concentration and volume of blood and to remove waste from the blood in the form of urine.

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Kidney function deteriorates

Focal glomerulosclerosis, pronounced glo-MARE-yu-lo-skle-RO-sis, attacks the kidney’s filters so that protein spills from the blood into the urine.

Symptoms

Fatigue, nausea, headaches and swelling of ankles.

Treatment

Medicine to reduce the rate of protein excretion.

Medicine to slow the rate of kidney malfunction.

Moderate reduction of protein and salt in diet.

Sources: The National Kidney Foundation