Super Bowl Wins, Championship Rings and a Kidney by the Baltimore Sun, Adapted by Newsela Staff on 09.21.14 Word Count 826

Super Bowl wins, championship rings and a kidney By The Baltimore Sun, adapted by Newsela staff on 09.21.14 Word Count 826

Chris Kemoeatu (left) and his brother Ma'ake laugh during a news conference at the University of Maryland Medical Center, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2014, in Baltimore, Maryland. Chris Kemoeatu's football career was cut short after seven seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers when he learned he'd need a kidney transplant. Photo: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

Chris Kemoeatu received a kidney transplant from his brother, a former Baltimore Ravens' football player, three weeks ago. Since then, he says he has heard all of the wisecracks.

Kemoeatu, 31, played seven years for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The two teams are bitter rivals.

“Everyone jokes about me having a Ravens’ kidney,” Kemoeatu said. “But hey, I can live with that.”

He’ll have to.

Super Bowl Rings And A Kidney

On Wednesday, Kemoeatu (pronounced key-moy-AH-too) and his brother Ma’ake (ma-AH- kay) spoke at the University of Maryland Medical Center of the unusual facts surrounding their Aug. 27 surgeries there. While kidney transplants between family members are not uncommon, this was likely the ﬁrst one between players linked to both sides of one of the NFL’s ﬁercest rivalries. “I’m a Raven and Chris is a Steeler but for this procedure, we had to come together,” said Ma’ake, 35. He was a starting defensive tackle on the Ravens’ 2012 Super Bowl championship team and played for Baltimore from 2002-2005. He has one championship ring. Chris, an offensive guard who retired in 2011, has two Super Bowl rings — plus one of his brother’s kidneys.

That difference hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“I ﬁgure he owes me a lot of steak dinners,” Ma’ake said.

"We're Gonna Get Through This"

Chris had battled painful kidney problems since adolescence. He quit football three years ago to address his deteriorating health. A transplant seemed the best bet, and tests at UMMC showed his eldest brother was a 99 percent match.

Ma’ake stepped up.

“I’m the oldest of seven kids and it’s my responsibility to take care of the rest,” he said. “If my siblings need blood, it will be my blood. If they need a kidney, it will be my kidney. We both stopped our careers for this, but I’d have done it even if I was a rookie with the Ravens. I have to lead by example.”

The surgery was set for July but, on the eve of surgery, a routine stress test showed Chris had heart problems, so he had major heart surgery instead. While recovering, Chris had to prepare for the kidney transplant with dialysis. It is a machine that does the work of the kidneys to help clean a person's blood.

“There were days when I drove him ... to dialysis when Chris looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think I can do this anymore,’” Ma’ake recalled. “I said, ‘Bro, muster up all the strength you’ve got. We’re gonna get through this. It’s fourth-and-long but we’re gonna get a ﬁrst down.'”

No Better Gift

Before the transplant, both men checked into the hospital weighing 345 pounds, which provided a challenge for surgeons.

“Chris and Ma’ake aren’t your average-sized people,” said Dr. David Leeser, chief of kidney and pancreas transplantation, who said that Ma'ake would medically have been considered to be too heavy to be healthy. “A lot of (hospitals) would have refused Ma’ake as a donor. He has a 22-inch neck, which is the waist size for a lot of women. But when we measured his body fat it came out average for men in the U.S.”

In a 2-1/2-hour operation, Leeser removed one of Ma’ake’s kidneys. The organ measured 13 centimeters, about 3 cm. more than average. “It was the largest normal kidney I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Dr. Stephen Bartlett, the hospital’s surgeon-in-chief who performed Chris’ procedure. “I felt like somebody had thrown me a small football.”

The ﬁve-hour surgery went off without a hitch and when he awoke in recovery, Ma’ake asked a nurse about his brother.

"Look to your left,” she said.

“He was still asleep, with the hose in his mouth,” Ma’ake said. “I knew I’d have something good to wake up to.”

Several hours later, Chris was awake in his room when Ma’ake walked in.

“I told him, ‘There’s no better gift you can give a brother,’” Chris said.

Both Teams Wish The Brothers Well

Both men received get-wells from their teams: Ma’ake, from the Ravens’ Haloti Ngata and Torrey Smith, among others, and Chris, from Pittsburgh’s Hines Ward and Heath Miller. The brothers will remain here for several months, then return home to Hawaii where they own a sports ﬁtness center.

Chris will not return to football, while Ma’ake isn’t sure.

“It’s been a tough year,” said Chris, who wore a Steelers cap as he spoke to a group of reporters. “I’ve experienced all I wanted to in football. I’ve played in three Super Bowls and been blessed to watch my brother play in another.”

Ma’ake said he’d “love to play” and cited one former Raven, linebacker Paul Kruger — now with the Cleveland Browns — who is playing with only one kidney. But business interests and family ties come ﬁrst.

He will never forget the surgery and has been told the operation was recorded on ﬁlm.

“I’ve watched a lot of game ﬁlms, but I’m not quite ready to see this yet,” he said. Quiz

1 Select the sentence from the section "Both Teams Wish The Brothers Well" that BEST captures its central idea.

(A) The brothers will remain here for several months, then return home to Hawaii where they own a sports ﬁtness center.

(B) “It’s been a tough year,” said Chris, who wore a Steelers cap as he spoke to a group of reporters.

(C) “I’ve experienced all I wanted to in football. I’ve played in three Super Bowls and been blessed to watch my brother play in another.”

(D) Ma’ake said he’d “love to play” and cited one former Raven, linebacker Paul Kruger — now with the Cleveland Browns — who is playing with only one kidney.

2 Which of the following sentences is MOST important to include in a summary of the section "Super Bowl Rings And A Kidney"?

(A) Kidney transplants between family members do happen; however, a transplant between two players from two rival NFL teams is unique.

(B) Chris, a Steelers offensive guard, received a kidney from his brother who was a defensive tackle with the Ravens.

(D) Chris and Ma’ake revealed the unusual facts behind the kidney transplant involving them.

3 Read the following sentence from the section "No Better Gift."

The ﬁve-hour surgery went off without a hitch and when he awoke in recovery, Ma’ake asked a nurse about his brother.

What is the meaning of the phrase "without a hitch"?

(A) free of any problems

(B) most likely to be successful

(D) lacking sudden complications 4 What is the meaning of the word "bitter" as used in the sentence below from paragraph 2 of the article?

The two teams are bitter rivals.

(A) cold

(B) sour

(D) wild Answer Key