Tom Brady is helping the coach who has been his mentor since he was a boy. Tom Martinez is in failing health and needs a kidney transplant, so Brady is asking people to see if they are a compatible kidney donor. To visit the donor organization’s website, click here.
New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady's former coach Tom Martinez is suffering from multiple physical problems, including kidney failure.
He undergoes dialysis four times a week for 16 hours.
He goes to physical therapy to try to get his frail body in shape for a kidney transplant, and now he's learned that he also has heart disease.
"Poor guy can not catch a break," says wife Olive. "If something can go wrong in a procedure for someone, it goes wrong for him."
So now the student is helping the coach.
A few weeks before the Super Bowl Tom Brady asked his fans on Facebook to go to MatchingDonors.com to undergo testing to see if they are a potential compatible kidney donor.
"The exposure was unbelievable," says Martinez, "because I've been on this for four years, and they tell you you're on a list but the list lives forever."
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Although no matching donor has yet been found, no one is giving up.
"Hopefully he's gonna get a kidney here pretty soon," says Brady. "I'm sure hoping he gets one."
Brady says Martinez has been a great friend for a long time.
"He taught me to throw the football at a young age."
Martinez recalls Brady as just unremarkable 13-year-old kid who grew into greatness.
"We have a relationship that's very, very unique," says Martinez. "He would like me to work with him more, and I would like to work with him more, but the travel factor is difficult because of my illness."
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