Former NBA center Manute Bol of Olathe is hospitalized with severe kidney trouble and a painful skin condition after falling critically ill while returning home from helping fight election corruption in his native Sudan.

“I believe he is going to survive this, but he’s had a total kidney failure,” Tom Prichard, director of Sudan Sunrise, a group that promotes reconciliation in Sudan, said Tuesday. “If he’d stayed two more days in Sudan, I don’t think he’d be alive right now.”

Prichard says the 7-foot-7 Bol was returning to the United States last week and was hospitalized during a stopover at Dulles International Airport. He said Bol has undergone three dialysis treatments and has developed Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a condition that has caused him to lose patches of skin.

The skin around Bol’s mouth was so sore that he went 11 days without eating and could barely talk. Bol, 47, is on morphine and will probably be moved to a burn unit, according to Prichard.

Bol’s wife and newborn daughter have traveled from their home in Kansas to be at the hospital. Bol still hasn’t met his daughter because visitors are restricted, having to wear mask, gown and gloves to prevent infection.

Prichard said it’s believed that Bol contracted the skin disease as a reaction to kidney medication he took while in Africa.

He was in Sudan to help build a school in conjunction with Sudan Sunrise but stayed longer than anticipated after the president of southern Sudan asked him to make election appearances and use his influence to counter corruption in Bol’s home county.

Bol played for four teams over 10 seasons in the NBA, averaging 2.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocked shots.



Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/19/1956157/former-nba-center-who-lives-in.html#ixzz0oP7gyZF9

I wish a full and speedy recovery to Mr. Bol and I hope it won't be long before he gets to hold his baby daughter in his arms.

Sending prayers his way for a full and fast recovery!!

I certainly hope that Manute makes a full recovery here. He's a good man.

As a long time Laker fan, having a satellite dish in the 1980s enabled me to watch about 60-70 Laker games a year. One of the games that I taped was Manute Bol's first meeting against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bol played for the Bullets (now the Wizards) at the time.

The crowd was buzzing every second that Bol was out there. I think he was in the starting lineup, and it was played during the 85-86 season.

Bol's reach was incredible. One time he was standing outside the lane along the baseline, and he just barely moved, and he slammed it home, left handed. I don't think he was even in the lane when he dunked it lol

Kareem had to make some adjustments on his skyhook, but he did, and he successfully made several shots against Bol's man to man defense. Jabbar had to alter his footwork slightly and arch his shot just a little more then usual, and after the game Bol said he'd never seen anything like Kareem before.

But one time, Kareem posted Bol down on the low block, made a spin move to the baseline and attempted a reverse dunk by using the rim to shield himself from the trailing Bol.

On that play, Bol reached from one side of the lane to the other and caught Kareem's attempted dunk cleanly up top, but was called for fouling with the body (I don't know how anyone could tell that, the guy was a rail lol).

After that, Kareem started slamming it home hard over Bol, so as not to allow him to get a clean shot at a block.

But what was amazing about watching that was the way Bol was just laughing out on the court... here he was, getting his but kicked by Kareem, but he enjoyed every second of it. He was having an absolute blast. Obviously, he knew he wasn't the first guy to get destroyed by Kareem and that obviously beats the heck out of living in the Sudan.

It's great to see guys like Bol and Mutombo give so much back to their native lands. Schools, hospitals, the works. They understand how blessed they were to be able to play in the NBA and make as much as they did.

We wish for a speedy recovery for you, Mr. Bol.

btw, what a remarkable picture (above) of Manute along with the 5'3 Muggsy Bogues.

Classy NBA athletes like Mr. Bol are now few and far between. How sad. :(