Alonzo Mourning Appeals for More Organ Donors for Others

This year's highest profile kidney transplant recipient, basketball star Alonzo Mourning, held a news conference prior to leaving New York-Presbyterian Hospital to urge potential living donors to help the 65,000 Americans currently on the kidney transplant waiting list.

Mourning, who announced that he needed a kidney transplant in mid-November, said he received more than 500 offers of kidney donations.

The 33-year-old Mourning received a living kidney donation from his 30-year-old second cousin, Jason Cooper, a relative he had not seen in 26 years. Cooper had the same blood type as Mourning -- O positive -- and a similarly sized kidney.

Mourning said said he called the news conference after receiving a letter from 17-year-old Molly Somderg, a high school senior in New Jersey with a history of kidney illness in her family, who encouraged him to speak out on the need for organ donors for the "many people who need help besides those in the public eye."

"That letter really touched me," Mourning said. AAll the people across the country that reached out to me, I encourage those people to help someone else. You can make a huge impact and give someone a second chance."

Other Sources: Newsday