www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/12/chiefs-fan-donated-kidney-eagles-super-bowl
“I cried,” Welsh told KMBC. “Never in a million years would I have ever thought that dude would’ve given me a kidney.”
Yet Gladwell said it wasn’t at all a difficult decision. He didn’t just have Welsh in mind, he said. He knew Welsh had a two-year-old son, who was close to the same age as one of Gladwell’s grandchildren.
“I don’t think I could’ve lived with myself if I could do something but didn’t,” Gladwell said to KMBC. Gladwell wanted Welsh’s child to be able to go with him to see all of Philadelphia’s sports teams play: baseball’s Phillies, hockey’s Flyers and basketball’s 76ers.
“I wanted him to be able to experience all of that with his dad,” Gladwell said.
Gladwell donated his kidney to Welsh in October 2020. The full weight of the sacrifice became clear early last year, when a Covid-19 infection sent Gladwell to a hospital intensive care unit with advanced kidney failure.
“I was in a pretty pickle,” Gladwell remarked.
It took him nearly a month to recover – but he did. And Welsh said he was grateful for that, and that both men’s kidneys were functioning well.
Neither Welsh nor Gladwell had been to the Super Bowl. So, after Gladwell’s Chiefs and Welsh’s Eagles clinched berths to Sunday’s Super Bowl, the teams worked together to arrange for both men to be in the stadium in Phoenix which is hosting the NFL’s title game.
Welsh is hoping the Eagles win their first Super Bowl since 2018. Gladwell on the other hand hopes the Chiefs can retake pro football’s crown for the first time since 2020.
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