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Former NFL Player Quit Football to Donate Kidney

We need these feel-good stories every once in a while. Former defensive tackle Ma’ake Kemoeatu, who played nine seasons in the NFL with three teams, held a press conference with his brother and another former NFL player Chris Kemoeatu.

It wasn’t your run-of-the-mill press conference either.

Three weeks removed from surgery, the brothers announced that Chris Kemoeatu was recovering from a hip transplant. The hip, of course, coming from his brother Ma’ake, who apparently quit the game he loves in order to save a brother he loves more.

Here is Ma’ake’s comment on the decision to retire from the NFL following the 2012 season, in which he started 13 games in route to a Super Bowl title with the Baltimore Ravens (via Associated Press).

He couldn’t play anymore, and I didn’t want to be in a position where he couldn’t play but I’d keep playing,” the 35-year-old former Ravens nose tackle said. “As soon as my brother’s health was at risk I wanted to stop everything.

This is a heartwarming story at a time when the NFL needed one. It repesents what is best about the human spirit when all the focus around the league is on what’s wrong with humanity.

Photo: WCFCourier.com

 

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