Throughout his 10 years in the NBA and at the conclusion of his career, the man who stood at over 7’6″ (some say 7’7″) has donated massive amounts of money, time and influence to assisting those in his native Sudan, as well as Sudanese refugees in places like Egypt. He has battled injustice and corruption from the Sudanese government during his many trips to and from Sudan and reportedly spent his entire fortune on his charitable efforts.
At the conclusion of Bol’s NBA career, he sought over avenues to earn money for the sake of his Ring True Foundation, which deals with the plight of Sudanese refugees. This led him to not only play basketball overseas, but to make novelty appearances in ice hockey, boxing and horse-jockeying.
He has battled various health ailments, including rheumatism and a serious car accident. However, now the only man to block more shots in his career than score points, has hit an even more serious health obstacle. This from NBA.com:
“Former NBA center Manute Bol 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-6 (2.29-meter) 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.
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.”
The great man that Manute Bol is, here is hoping that he will survive this setback and continue the great work that he does and can be reunited with his young family.
Here is a classic prank played by Charles Barkley and Rick Mahorn on Bol, back in the day:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5INtPNOI2PI
More on the NBA TV documentary here.
