Former NBA player Manute Bol hospitalizedFormer NBA center Manute Bol of Olathe has been hospitalized because of severe kidney trouble and a painful skin condition after falling critically ill while returning home from his native Sudan.
“I believe he is going to survive this, but he’s had an acute kidney failure,” said Tom Prichard, director of Sudan Sunrise, a group that promotes reconciliation in Sudan. “If he’d stayed two more days in Sudan, I don’t think he’d be alive right now.”
George Bol, a cousin who lives in Silver Spring, Md., said Wednesday that Bol was showing “a little improvement.”
George Bol said the 7-foot-7 Bol was returning to his home in Olathe and was hospitalized during a stopover in Washington. He said Bol has undergone three dialysis treatments and has developed 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 was moved Tuesday night to a burn unit in another hospital.
Bol’s wife and newborn daughter traveled from their home in Kansas to be at the hospital.
Bol 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 there.
Bol is “highly respected” in Sudan, Prichard said, and still has great influence there. He was in Sudan to promote a candidate in the country’s upcoming elections.
He played for four teams over 10 seasons in the NBA, averaging 2.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocked shots.
Prichard encouraged well-wishers to post messages on the Manute Bol Get Well Soon Facebook page. Sudan Sunrise is based in Lenexa.
| Jim Sullinger, jsullinger@kcstar.com
Posted on Wed, May. 19, 2010 10:59 PM
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