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Having spent over 30 years of his life supporting student-athletes as a college tennis coach at various levels, including currently coaching the Barton College men’s and women’s tennis teams, Lee Underwood is now looking for support himself as he looks for a living kidney donor after being diagnosed with stage 5 kidney failure.
As an active person throughout his life, Underwood has already overcome numerous medial adversities throughout his life having been a Type I diabetic since birth and overcoming colon cancer in 2020, before being hit with his latest challenge in 2021 when he was diagnosed with kidney failure.
Currently, Underwood relies on frequent dialysis treatments where he has to have 40 liters of saline five times a week until he finds a donor. This treatment continues on the road for Underwood as for a roadtrip with his Barton teams he is packing nearly 30 boxes of saline to keep up with treatments while still giving it his all as a coach.
With nearly 100,000 individuals waiting for a kidney donor in the United States alone, Lee and his wife Cherie are hoping the public will hear their story and test themselves to see if they are a match for a living kidney donor. This would greatly accelerate the waiting process and would directly match Underwood with another person instead of waiting for a deceased donor or hoping to be selected out of the long list of transplant hopefuls.
For those interested in helping, it is encouraged that they visit a transplant center to be evaluated and to ensure they are a match and healthy enough to donate. Living donors can contact ECU in Greenville to test to see if they can be Lee’s specific match by calling 252-847-9121 or applying through ecuh.donorscreen.org.
Donors typically spend one or two nights in the hospital with follow-up appointments for up to six weeks. The Underwoods also note that their insurance will cover all medical costs associated with this transplant procedure.
We hope you consider helping coach Underwood in any way that you can as he continues to fight his battle and impact student-athletes on a daily basis as a coach.
