A Story From Sports Illustrated. Oklahoma State ...  PRO

A story from Sports Illustrated. Oklahoma State Football Coach Bob Simmons, a Coach of the year, who brought a team that was mired in defeat back from the brink, to the place of respectability. But at age 49, his kidneys were failing. By the fall of 1997, his health took a turn for the worst, he needed a new kidney but the wait for a donor organ averaged 2 years. One afternoon in November 1997, Linda, his wife laid on her bed, praying for guidance. An answer came to her, she would give Bob one of her kidneys. Bob resisted, but Linda kept pushing the idea. She was suitable match. Being a registered nurse for 25 years, she knew that there is a risk that things could go wrong whenever surgery of any kind in involved. She wanted so much to keep Bob’s dream of coaching and of course her husband alive. Linda said this “I was trying to get him to understand this was a gift from God.” Bob finally gave in and on the morning of March 10, 1998 as both husband and wife were being prepped for the procedure, Linda reached over and told Bob everything would be fine. Her heart was “celebrating” she says, pumping wildly, “because I knew the miracle was at hand.” Six days after the surgery Bob returned to practice. But what struck outsiders was the sacrifice of Linda. It took months before she recovered. When Bob first addressed the team after the surgery, he couldn’t describe Linda’s act without breaking into...