When Ma'ake Kemoeatu cut his NFL career short in 2012, his reason was unconventional -- and deeply personal. The former Ravens defensive lineman had decided to donate a kidney to his brother, Chris.
Chris, an ex-Steeler himself, was forced to quit football in 2012 after discovering he needed a transplant. The former guard had suffered from kidney problems from a young age. Once Ma'ake realized his own kidney was a good match, the 35-year-old left the Ravens in order to provide his brother with a new organ.
"He couldn't play anymore, and I didn't want to be in a position where he couldn't play but I'd keep playing," Ma'ake said. "As soon as my brother's health was at risk I wanted to stop everything."
The Aug. 27 procedure was successful, according to Dr. Stephen Bartlett, a transplant surgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Both brothers are currently recovering.
The two began preparing for the surgery a year and a half ago. But the procedure was delayed when Chris discovered he needed a coronary bypass before the transplant could take place.
Ma'ake found a way to comfort his brother through the sudden setback on common ground -- through football analogies.
"I knew in my mind that he's fighting a kidney and now he has to have heart surgery," Ma'ake said. "... I said, 'All right, we're not going to get this in the first down, but we're fourth and long right now and we have to go deep. We'll make it through the first down -- the heart surgery -- to the end zone: the kidney transplant."
Ma'ake's prediction proved correct. Once the two fully recover -- the timeline for such a procedure is roughly six weeks -- they hope to return to their native Hawaii. Neither brother currently has plans to return to the NFL.
Like teammates, Ma'ake and Chris relied on their bond through the process. In Chris' mind, the experience "definitely brought us closer as brothers."
