would require a transplant<\/a>. But Mourning is one of them.<\/p>\n\u201cI never thought I\u2019d have something in common with the Hall of Famer,\u201d said Pimental.<\/p>\n
\u2018A life-changing event\u2019<\/p>\n
Mourning has been an invaluable resource for Pimental in the 11 months since his diagnosis by answering questions, giving advice, serving as a sounding board during difficult days and providing encouragement throughout.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked. I was hurt, because Rob\u2019s a good man,\u201d said Mourning, reflecting on when he first heard the news. \u201cAnd you hate to see bad things happen to good people.<\/p>\n
\u201cRob is a good family man. He takes care of everybody, he\u2019s good to everybody, and he\u2019s got these two beautiful daughters and a wife [Gina], so it\u2019s like, \u2018Why is he having to go through this?\u2019 I really just had a deep concern for his well-being in hopes that I could have a positive effect on the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mourning encouraged Pimental to continue going about his day-to-day life as much as he could. While Pimental did not travel with the Heat this past season \u2014 he needed to be ready to get to the hospital if a transplant became available \u2014 he still performed his duties with the team, whether from the office or at home.<\/p>\n
Pimental\u2019s new daily routine also includes two dialysis sessions: one he administers at the office using a portable dialysis unit and IV stand, and another at home. While the dialysis often leaves him feeling fatigued, he continues to get his work done.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do what\u2019s in your power,\u201d said Mourning. \u201cYou do your dialysis, you eat right, you exercise, you take good care of yourself, and then you patiently wait for your moment in time to come and hope that the gift of life is right around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pimental said Mourning\u2019s advice and life experience with a similar scenario was helpful throughout the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cZo told me, \u2018This is a life-changing event, but we\u2019re gonna get you through this. It\u2019s not going to be easy, but here\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do,\u2019\u201d said Pimental. \u201cAnd he\u2019s been there the whole time. Even just walking into work, he\u2019ll come by and he\u2019ll be like, \u2018Man, you look good today. You look good. You feel good? You look good.\u2019 Just that alone kind of gets me going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mourning often preaches that \u201cthe body follows the mind,\u201d so he constantly tries to help Pimental maintain a positive outlook.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re going through this, it\u2019s easy to get consumed with the fact that, \u2018Man, I\u2019m gonna die,\u2019\u201d said Mourning. \u201cYeah, we\u2019re all gonna die someday. But Rob, you\u2019re not gonna go right now, man. You still got a lot of work to do on this Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps the greatest evidence Mourning can offer to help Pimental stay positive throughout this process is his very presence. Mourning is now 22 years post-transplant \u2014 a living, breathing example of what awaits on the other side of this journey.<\/p>\n
For now, Pimental waits and hopes<\/p>\n
While Pimental has Mourning to look to for knowledge, understanding and inspiration, Mourning had former NBA All-Star and San Antonio Spurs icon Sean Elliott to lean on during his own kidney transplant journey. In 1999, Elliott became the first player to return to the court following a kidney transplant and was a key player in the Spurs\u2019 run to their first title in 1998-99.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was fortunate enough to have Sean Elliott speak with me when I was going through my own transplant journey,\u201d said Mourning. \u201cHaving somebody to talk to \u2014 someone to settle your mind, get you focused on your day-to-day responsibilities and understand that it\u2019s a process and that your moment will come \u2014 having somebody to lean on during a turbulent time in your life is extremely important, so I\u2019m grateful that I\u2019m here so [Rob] can lean on me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mourning and Elliott were fortunate to have family members \u2014 a second cousin for Mourning, a brother for Elliott \u2014 who were willing and able to donate kidneys. Pimental, on the other hand, remains on the transplant list.<\/p>\n
The biggest unknown in this entire process is when the phone will ring with the life-altering news that a matching organ has become available.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really hard, especially when you get spam calls and you\u2019re answering every one now, because you just never know,\u201d Pimental said. \u201cThat\u2019s the hard part. I check my phone 1,000 times a day. It doesn\u2019t leave my side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pimental said he has woken up in the middle of the night, scrambling to find his phone, afraid he had missed a call.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mental side of it is really tough, but I have a really good situation with my home life and professional life,\u201d said Pimental. \u201cWhen those moments come, I have a 6- and a 7-year-old and a wife that I love being around \u2014 so I just go hang out with my kids, and it makes things a little easier. That\u2019s the only motivation I need, really, to make this work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pimental won\u2019t receive the call he\u2019s been waiting for until a donor match is found, which is why both he and Mourning encourage people to become organ donors. Registration is available at a local Department of Motor Vehicles or by visiting DonateLife.Net<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cThe numbers are staggering,\u201d said Mourning. \u201cOver 120,000 people are waiting on the transplant list. That\u2019s not even including the ones that haven\u2019t even made it on the list yet. Then, you\u2019ve got over 30 million Americans who suffer from chronic kidney disease, and you\u2019ve got another 30 million who are at risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cOrgan donation saves lives. And you don\u2019t realize the impact that it can have on the future of somebody else\u2019s life and how it affects so many other people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami Heat Director of Team Operations Rob Pimental joins the NBA TV crew alongside Hall of Famer Alonzo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[204928,85,46,105],"class_list":["post-436732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alonzo-mourning-rob-pimental-health-journey-kidney","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}