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Nice Story about Udeze in the Star Trib today


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If you can't read before you sign up, well worth signing up, imo. (Posted below anyway.)

 

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When the Vikings' Kenechi Udeze has a bone marrow transplant this week, brother Thomas Barnes will be the donor, cementing the relationship they've had since childhood.

 

By JUDD ZULGAD, Star Tribune

 

Last update: June 30, 2008 - 9:01 PM

 

He and his brother Thomas Barnes went swimming in Los Angeles and, as usual, 7-year-old Kenechi wanted to keep up with his older sibling. This meant making his way to the deep end of the pool. He started tiptoeing as the water grew deeper ... then he went under.

 

"I was struggling for a minute, and I swear nobody saw me," Udeze said. "At the last second, my brother came and got me and just swam me back to the shallow end."

 

Udeze refers to that as the first time his brother "saved my life." It wouldn't be the last.

 

Udeze, a 25-year-old Vikings defensive end, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in February while visiting his wife's family in Idaho. The fast-growing cancer of the white blood cells can prove fatal, but Udeze is scheduled to undergo a bone marrow transplant in the coming days at University of Minnesota Medical Center. Barnes, almost six years older than Udeze, will be the donor.

 

Barnes tested as a 100 percent match for the transplant -- leukemia patients have a 25 percent chance of finding a match among family members.

 

"He's somebody that I can talk to about certain things that I might need help on," Udeze said. "Whether it be school, whether it be advice. He's always been like the perfect match for me. That's why it doesn't even surprise me that he was the perfect match because, from Day One, he's always been there for me."

 

Barnes and Udeze don't share the same surname because the former took his mother's maiden name and the latter kept their biological father's name. That is one of the few things they don't have in common.

 

Both love sports -- the Los Angeles Lakers' loss to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals didn't sit well with either -- and, despite the age difference, they were close as kids. Barnes spent much of his time keeping an eye on Udeze. Udeze tagged his brother with the nickname Foolery, a play on words that was more a term of affection than anything.

 

"He was the most mischievous kid you could imagine," said Barnes, who will turn 31 in August. "Kind of like Bart Simpson. Not getting into fights, but skipping school from time to time. Just silly stuff. But we've always been really close, and I was a pretty decent athlete. Nothing like him, but I played sports and encouraged him to play basketball and football."

 

Long before Udeze became a standout football player at the University of Southern California, Barnes realized a career in sports wasn't in his future and turned his attention to academics. He attended the University of St. Thomas and graduated from law school at the University of Minnesota. When Udeze was selected by the Vikings in the first round of the 2004 draft, Barnes was living in the Twin Cities and helped negotiate his brother's contract.

 

Barnes eventually moved to Denver to work as a corporate lawyer but kept close tabs on his brother's progress.

 

A shocker

 

While mentoring high school students in February, Barnes got a call from his sister, Chinasa, that didn't seem to make sense. "She told me Kenechi called and said he had leukemia," Barnes said. "It didn't even register at the time. I said, 'I'll call you when I get home because that's not right.' I went back into the session."

 

The reality hit Barnes, and he decided to leave the school.

 

"I got home, and I call my brother," Barnes said. "He handed the phone to the doctor in Idaho, and the doctor said [the diagnosis] matter-of-factly and said, 'We're trying to get him on a plane to Minnesota immediately because he's at risk right now.'

 

"I can't even put it into words how I felt. It was the biggest shock of my life. It was surreal. I was in Minnesota the next day."

 

Udeze spent 24 days at Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina because he had a dangerously low white blood cell count, which left him susceptible to infection. A catheter was inserted in his chest to make it easier to draw blood, and he began undergoing chemotherapy. Meanwhile, doctors wanted to test all three of Udeze's siblings to see what type of match they might be for a bone marrrow transplant.

 

Brother Eche, 26, was a 50 percent match. Before Chinasa, 28, could get tested, they found Barnes was the ideal candidate.

 

Udeze, whose cancer was declared to be in remission around the same time in mid-April, was the first to get the information. This led to a rather humorous conversation.

 

"He calls me and says, 'I've got some good news and some bad news,'" Barnes said. "This was a month and a half after this began and I said, 'Give me the good news because I can't take any more bad news.' He said, 'You're a perfect match.' I almost started crying."

 

And then Barnes asked for the bad news. "He said, 'I burnt my tongue on some toast this morning.' " Barnes laughed at the memory before turning serious. "As bad news as it was to find out he had leukemia, I think it was just as good of news to find out I was a perfect match and could help him."

 

The next step

 

Much of Udeze's family will begin arriving in town this week to lend support to Kenechi and his wife, Terrica, as well as their baby daughter, Bailey.

 

Barnes, who will undergo a physical in the middle of the week as doctors prepare him to donate bone marrow, has decided to relocate to the Twin Cities permanently to be closer to his brother. He wrapped things up at his job in Denver last week. "Everybody is commending me for what I'm doing, and it's like, who wouldn't do this for their little brother?" he said.

 

Udeze is eager to undergo the procedure. If all goes well, it will not only enable him to fully recover but also could mean he can play football again in 2009. He will sit out this season -- the Vikings have placed him on the reserve/nonfootball injury list -- but he will be paid his $807,500 base salary.

 

In the team's Winter Park offices late last week, Udeze lamented the fact he hasn't been able to work out -- he tried that shortly after learning he was sick and spent five days in the hospital after having a fever of 105.4 degrees -- and said that although he's only about 5 pounds over his playing weight of 281, he has lost muscle mass and his cheeks have gotten puffy. "The hardest thing for me to kind of deal with was with my body changing," he said.

 

Udeze, who plans to use some of his time away from football to finish his sociology degree by taking classes at St. Thomas, is convinced that his football career isn't finished.

 

"I know I'll be back playing," he said. "It's not even about like how I feel. It's about my mind-set, and my mind-set is, 'This is temporary.' For me to sit up and say, 'This is going to be the end.' No. I told myself when I'm done with football, the world will know and this is not my exit out of football."

 

That's a sentiment Barnes likely has been proud to hear from his kid brother during the past few difficult months.

 

"I know he wants me to succeed in not only this but in every walk that I can as a man and every walk that I can just in being a human being," Udeze said. "I know when he found out about the news he was more devastated than anybody. ...

 

"When we found out it was him that was a perfect match, I couldn't even express to you how excited I was about it. I still can't. It almost feels like everything is surreal. In February I was diagnosed, and here we are in July talking about a full recovery. There is a lot to be thankful for, and it's a lot to think about. Right now, my brother is still my biggest fan."

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While not one of my favorite players (DE should collect sacks IMO), nobody needs to go through what he is going through. Good Story and hopefully he can make it back and resume his career. Nice post Mikevikes!

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  • 6 months later...

Update

 

Udeze's goal: 'in my jersey on sideline'

 

By JUDD ZULGAD, Star Tribune

January 27, 2009

 

While the majority of his Vikings teammates are enjoying time away from football, Kenechi Udeze's focus remains on the day he will be able to step on the field again.

 

Nearly a year after his acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was diagnosed and six months after undergoing a bone-marrow transplant that forced him to sit out the 2008 season, Udeze expressed confidence Monday he will be able to take part in the Vikings' offseason workouts.

 

"My goal is when the team gets back together, I'll be in my jersey and on the sideline with them," he said. "If I didn't feel [positive about] it, I wouldn't be saying it. If something drastic happens, then that is that, but I can bounce back from this."

 

The defensive end still has a few months before the Vikings' offseason program begins April 6. Today will mark an important step in his recovery. He is scheduled to undergo a six-month biopsy at the University of Minnesota to determine how his white blood cells are maturing.

 

ALL is a fast-growing cancer of those cells that can prove fatal, but the fact that Udeze's older brother, Thomas Barnes, tested as a 100 percent match for the transplant was a best-case scenario. "It's been nothing but good news [so far], so let's hope for the best," Udeze said.

 

The 2004 first-round draft pick began working out at his alma mater, Southern California, about three weeks ago. His weight topped out at a high of about 320 pounds but is now between 265 and 270 and his appetite has returned.

 

The bloating and puffiness Udeze experienced during treatment also has given way to the more defined look he had before getting sick.

 

"I'm feeling good," he said before pausing. "I'd actually have to say great. I'm doing great. I'm being seen now once a month [by doctors] and just following what they've been telling me. The load of [medication] has dropped tremendously."

 

Udeze, who resumed taking courses at USC and will graduate with a degree in sociology after finishing up four classes this semester, didn't just return to the Twin Cities for today's appointment. He also was back to speak at an event at Chaska Middle School West that involved the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's "Pennies for Patients" program.

 

The school raised just over $30,000 last year, the best of any middle school in the country. Udeze applauded the work of the children, encouraged them to continue raising money and talked about his own battle. He also made it clear he would return.

 

"If you know me, you know that nothing is going to stop me from living out my dream and continuing my dream," he told reporters. "That's why I say I'm tired of the questions [about coming back], because if you don't know me then just watch what I'm going to do."

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