Willie Blackwell is known around metro Atlanta as “a walking miracle.”
The former NFL player for Washington, Buffalo and Kansas City, who makes a living today as an ordained minister in McDonough, has lived for the past 22 years with only one kidney.
It was 1999 when the father of three children started experiencing sharp pains in his left side, and doctors shared the devastating news that he had kidney cancer.
Blackwell, also a former star linebacker at Atlanta’s Morris Brown College in the 1970s, has continued to live with his remaining kidney functioning at barely 20%, which he learned during a routine checkup two years ago.
After his most recent diagnosis, Blackwell was almost certain that his days were numbered. But he said he has managed to survive by putting his faith in God.
“I kept telling the Lord I’d been faithful, didn’t that count for something,” Blackwell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2019.
For each new day that passes, Blackwell said he remains hopeful that a suitable donor can be found.
“I want to stay alive,” he told Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen this week.
To date, most of his family members, including his wife, son and daughters, have been tested to see if they are a match, but none meet the donor criteria. Most have health issues of their own, which automatically disqualifies them.
Blackwell said he has never been the type to ask anyone for help, but out of desperation he has created a Facebook page that he hopes will bring new attention to his persisting health crisis.
“There are a lot of great people in the world willing to help you. They just need to know I exist. They need to know Willie needs a kidney,” Blackwell told Channel 2.
Blackwell played three seasons in the NFL before injuries ended his career. He spent the next four decades as a car salesman and businessman, mostly in metro Atlanta, with an affinity for helping others.
“When you take care of people, God will take care of you,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Blackwell said he keeps a positive outlook by remembering the life lessons he learned years ago as a football player.
“One thing about being in sports is that athletes have this perseverance. A ‘don’t quit’ attitude. That’s what I love about the Atlanta Hawks. They believe. They kept pushing and did a fantastic job. I’m kind of like that, too. You have to keep believing, man,” Blackwell told Channel 2.
Doctors told him two years ago that he could die if a new kidney wasn’t found soon, but Blackwell has continued to defy the odds by staying busy and working part time despite feeling “terribly weak.”
“It keeps my mind off the negative,” he said.
After leaving football, Blackwell became an account executive with a food service company. He also served as a volunteer chaplain at Morris Brown, his alma mater, and Clark Atlanta University. He was an avid volunteer in his church and community. He retired in 1994.
In 1995, then-Gov. Zell Miller gave Blackwell a top Literacy Award for his volunteer literacy services at Dobbs International Food Service — now called Gate Gourmet Food Service. He started a GED, ESL and reading program for Gate Gourmet employees so they could improve their literacy skills nationwide, according to previous reports.
Anyone interested in being tested as a possible donor for Blackwell can register at piedmontlivingdonor.org.
