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Foxx recognizes coach who donated kidney

U.S. Rep.Virginia Foxx took time on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday night to praiseWake Forest University baseball coach Tom Walter, who donated one of his kidneys to Kevin Jordan, a freshman baseball player at Wake Forest.

In her opening remarks on the issue, Foxx said sports matters are not things she often speaks of on the floor but that Walter’s “actions are so exemplary that they must be recognized.”

Jordan, a draft pick of the New York Yankees out of high school last year, accepted a baseball scholarship to Wake Forest. But he was diagnosed with an antibody disorder that led to kidney failure and forced him to receive daily dialysis treatments while he sought a matching donor. No one in Jordan’s family was compatible.

It was determined late last month that Walter was a match.

“Kevin Jordan suffered with failing kidneys and a donation was his only hope for a normal life. And before he even had a chance to swing his bat for Wake Forest, his coach stepped up and changed his life by offering one of his own kidneys,” said Foxx, whose district includes Statesville.

“This is not your everyday ‘take one for the team’ story,’ ” Foxx added. “Rather, this is the story of a man of great character and generosity taking initiative to improve the life of a promising young man like Kevin Jordan.

Foxx wished both men a speedy recovery and said Walter’s act “is the very image of a life lived well, of putting others first. His family, his players, his friends and his community could not ask for a better man to call their own.”