In 1999, on 1 November Walter Payton “Sweetness” runner back of the Hall of Fame died at the age of 45 in his house near Chicago. The outstanding runner-back who set a remarkable history in football died due to bile duct cancer.
In 1998 he was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) a chronic disease affecting only three people in 100,000. It is a chronic liver disease in which the bile ducts inside the liver (intrahepatic bile ducts ) and outside the liver( extrahepatic bile ducts) become thicker, narrowed, and then blocked. It is a slow process that continuously destroys the liver in time.
On Feb 2, 1999, in a press conference, Payton disclosed that he was suffering from PSC and needed a liver transplant in the next two years. However, after one week of the conference, his physicians told him that he needed liver transplantation at the end of 1999.
During the conference Walter also said;
“Am I scared? Hell yeah, I’m scared. Wouldn’t you be scared?” he asked. “But it’s not in my hands anymore. It’s in God’s hands.
Payton said I want to stay positive because no one makes me positive instead of myself. If in the next two years, I get a liver transplant then it would be fine and life goes on. If not then this is the way how life meant to me.
Organ Donation Ad:
On 16 May 1999, Payton records a public announcement ad for organ donation. The ad was running in between a television series named Touched By an Angle. The subject of matter of series was also on organ donation.
Does AIDS Cause Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis?
PSC is idiopathic (having unknown origin) or associated with other diseases such as;
- Inflammatory bowel disease, especially with ulcerative colitis;
- Certain uncommon diseases such as multifocal fibrosclerosis syndrome, Riedel’s struma, and pseudotumor of the orbit.
- AIDS.
Same as PSC, the changes in the biliary tract in AIDS are also unknown but quite the same. The infectious agents are mycoplasma, cytomegalovirus, and others. Symptoms of CPS are (jaundice) yellowness, nausea, tiredness, and pruritus (itching all over the body).
Complications in the PSC lead to bile duct cancer and then a liver transplant is not a vital option for the patient. Because the drugs that the patient takes make the body to reject the new liver and grow the tumor faster.
Despite of all as a great player and rusher Payton fought his cancer with bravery, grace, and resistance. And at the age of 45 says goodbye to the world leaving behind his unforgettable legacy.