ICC coach Tony Wysinger back to work after successful kidney transplant

EAST PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD/WYZZ) — Tony Wysinger remembers the conversation like it was yesterday.

“When I got to the emergency room, the doctor said, ‘You have the toxins in your system of a 400-pound man. I have no idea why you are alive,” Wysinger said.

That was Dec. 2, 2015. And an 8-and-a-half year journey began for the Illinois Central College basketball coach.

He had dialysis to treat a life-threatening kidney disease three days a week. Each session lasted nearly three hours.

Wysinger, who is a former Peoria High and University of Illinois basketball standout, got to know the nurses, technicians and other patients well since he saw them multiple times a week. Then he saw a patient skip some treatments and wondered if he could do the same.

So he asked a nurse.

“She said something that hit me. She said, “you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. If you want to die it’s up to you,” Wysinger explained. “I had motivation (to stick with the dialysis) for my son, my family, my wife, for everybody.”

While Wysinger waited patiently for a kidney, he never missed a game due to his treatments. Then March 17, he got a call from his doctor.

“He said we have a kidney for you,” Wysinger said. “And you have to be here in an hour.”

A kidney came from a donor in Michigan and it was a match for Wysinger. He underwent the transplant and four days later was home recovering.

This is his first week back to work since the transplant. He says he’s feels good but a little fatigued.

This week he also made a trip back to the clinic where he underwent dialysis so he could visit the technicians and patients that he hasn’t seen since mid-March.

“They looked at me, just like I would other patients that got kidneys who were my inspiration. Because you have to keep doing this because (a transplant) can happen,” Wysinger said. “I had three people say, ‘So glad you got your kidney. You are my inspiration to keep me going.’ And that felt good.”

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