Kenechi Udeze: Story of Brothers Helping Brothers

Nigerian-born Kenechi Udeze, 25, whose name means ‘God’s love will always be with me’, plays football for Minnesota Viking. He was the highest rated DE in his draft in 2005. Sadly, just when his career was lifting up, he was diagnosed with leukemia in February this year.

On Friday, April 18, 2008, some female soccer teams gathered in the Vikings Headquarters, Minnesota to play 24-hours marathon of soccer in aid of the National Marrow Donor Program and to encourage people to become bone marrow donors. Kenechi Udeze made an appearance at the event with his wife Terrica and their 4-month old daughter. During his appearance he was pleased to announce that his cancer was in remission. He also mentioned that he was fortunate to find a matching bone marrow, his brother.

According to news report:

Udeze said he was visiting his wife’s family in Idaho during the first weekend of February when he began having migraine headaches and eventually a sore neck. He visited an Idaho hospital to be treated for what he believed was a severe sinus infection.

Instead, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, also known as ALL. Upon returning to the Twin Cities, Udeze checked into Fairview Southdale Hospital for 24 days because his dangerously low white blood cell count left him susceptible to infection.

Finding matching bone marrow donors is often a difficult task for people undergoing leukemia treatment and that becomes even more so when the person seeking a donor is an African-American because there are not many of them willing to donate. We congratulate Kenechi on finding a donor and we look forward to seeing him again on the field in a Vikings uniform.