“So we were out playing softball. I came home between games and my mom was on the phone crying and then I kind of walked up to her. And as soon as she saw me, she just turned around and started crying even harder. And she wasn't really telling me what was going on, so I thought am I dying?”
Budding baseball star Logan Bradley grew up worshipping Cardinals greats Yadier Molina and Matt Carpenter. The Nevada, Missouri native had hoped to play collegiately, until that dream wasn’t taken from him in July of 2016. That’s when Logan, who feared he might have diabetes because of all the water he was drinking, was rushed to a local hospital, where doctors discovered he was missing his right kidney and his left kidney was only functioning at about 20 percent. Months later in March of 2017, Logan was placed on the donor list. Miraculously, he found a match within hours and received his kidney transplant the following night. But Logan wasn’t out of the woods yet.
“The kidney rejection probably started, I would say September of 2017,” recalled Logan in his interview with lead video producer BJ Barretta of RADIO.COM Sports. “I was just crying a lot, you know, it sucked. I couldn't believe it really.” Logan spent his next two years in and out of the hospital, at one point crossing paths with Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes. The All-Pro quarterback paid him a visit at Mercy Children’s Hospital in Kansas City, signing a football for Logan and even playing him in a game of Madden.
“I remember he threw an interception,” Logan laughed. "He just asked if I ever played football and just kind of had a normal conversation with me. It was pretty cool.” Doctors ruled out a return to the gridiron, though Logan was able to resume his baseball career at Nevada High School, appearing in a handful of games his junior and senior years. Now working at a Walmart distribution center in nearby Harrisonville (though he recently applied for a position with the US Postal Service), Logan will eventually need another transplant, though doctors are optimistic his new kidney will last him 20-25 years.
Born to a single mother of four, Logan never learned the identity of his kidney donor, though the transplant may very well have saved his life.
“I think they said he was in his twenties and he just had a brain injury and died,” said Logan. “We saw someone walking with coolers. We’re like, ‘that could be my kidney right there.’”
“We truly believed that Logan would have been on dialysis. We had already kind of talked ourselves into preparing for that,” said Logan’s mother Melanie, who didn’t even know her son was on the donor list when the call came. “There were several lives that were saved by that young man.”
After his memorable encounter with Mahomes, there’s no mystery who Logan will be cheering for on Sunday. “I don’t really like Tom Brady,” Logan admitted. “I’m hoping Mahomes can go out there and show him who’s the real GOAT.”
Melanie will also be pulling for Kansas City in Super Bowl LV, though she’s expecting a close game. “I love those games. Those are the good ones, where you win by a field goal or something. But then I think, no I want to get a 20-point head start.”
On top of being one of the NFL’s brightest stars, the 25-year-old Mahomes is well-known for his charitable work off the field, especially through his foundation, “15 and the Mahomies,” which aims to improve the lives of children throughout Greater Kansas City.
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