A local baseball coach has stepped up to provide a life-saving kidney transplant to one of his childhood heroes. He gave his kidney to a former Boston Red Sox pitcher that he grew up admiring.
Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Jeff Plympton and a fan will forever be connected thanks to a life-saving organ donation, according to NBC affiliate WJAR.
Plympton said last year it wasn't exactly a curveball when he learned in 2009 he had polycystic kidney disease. It's genetic, and his mother and grandmother both had it.
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After he retired from Major League Baseball, he created "Crush," a youth baseball program, where he later met his kidney donor, WJAR reported.
Mike Roche, who said he's looked up to Plympton for a very long time, is a coach for Crush.
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"He looked right at me and says, ''What's your blood type?'" Plympton told WJAR. "He says, 'I'm O-negative, too, and I'll give you my kidney.'"
Roche, of Plainville, spent months going for tests to Rhode Island Hospital and finally, on March 4, he donated his kidney to his hero.
"I'm not going to lie to you, we wanted to get it done quickly, so we could both be out here for baseball season and to prevent dialysis, obviously," said Roche.
"If anyone can understand what he went through to do what he did for me, it's incredible. It really is," said Plympton.
Plympton grew up playing baseball in Plainville. He was drafted by Boston in 1987 and reached the majors in 1991. He spent his whole career in the Red Sox organization.
