Knievel counsels Sweetness
Daredevil urges Payton to head south for liver transplant
Posted: Tuesday February 09, 1999 08:38 PM
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Walter Payton will not survive if he doesn't get a liver transplant. AP |
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Evel Knievel called Walter Payton and suggested he
come to Florida, saying the Chicago Bears Hall of Famer
could get on a shorter list to receive a new liver transplant.
"I said, 'I don't care where you've been, who you've seen or what
you've done. All I want is to tell you I love you and I want you to come
down and see Dr. Ramos and LifeLink,'" Knievel said Tuesday.
Knievel said Payton agreed to send blood profile information right
away.
Knievel, who waited eight months for his transplant, thinks Payton
would be on a shorter wait list through Tampa-based LifeLink than in more
highly populated areas where the wait can be up to three years. Payton has
been told he could die within two years if he does not receive a
transplant.
Payton, 44, was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, which
blocks the bile ducts.
Dr. Hector Ramos said how long a patient waits depends on a number of
variables, especially degree of illness and organ match.
Ruth Duncan Bell, a LifeLink spokeswoman, said the program doesn't
estimate how long a person may have to wait.
Both Knievel and Payton have O-positive blood, a common type which can
both help and hinder donor prospects -- the former because it improves
chances for getting a liver and the latter because the type is shared by
thousands of other people also awaiting the organ. He is on a national list
through the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Ramos said he was pleased with Knievel's recovery from the Jan. 27
surgery at Tampa General Hospital.
"Thank God he's doing very well - a little better than I expected him
to do," Ramos said.
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