Manute Bol hospitalized





Former Washington Bullets center Manute Bol was hospitalized in Northern Virginia with kidney failure and Stevens-Johnson Syndrome last week, according to a friend and associate.

Tom Prichard, who has worked with Bol on building a school in Sudan through the group Sudan Sunrise, said that Bol was returning from several months in Sudan, where his health had deteriorated. Prichard said Bol flew into Dulles and had to stay overnight near the airport before a flight back to his family in Kansas; after friends asked the hotel manager to check on Bol, he was rushed to a local hospital.

Prichard said that Bol has undergone three rounds of dialysis, and that the Stevens-Johnson Syndrome might necessitate a move to a burn unit.

"He's at great risk," Prichard said. "He's in a bad way."

Bol, 47, had been in Sudan to work on his school project, but was asked to stay through the elections this spring, Prichard said. The former center canceled a string of speaking engagements, including an appearance at a Wizards game, to help with the elections in his county, a key electoral region. While Bol was gone, his wife also gave birth to a daughter, whom he has yet to meet.



Prichard said Bol is on morphine and in terrible pain, but is able to talk with visitors and seems to be stabilizing.

"He's pleased that he accomplished what he was so determined to do in Sudan," Prichard said. "He was fighting with every bit of his strength to try to keep Southern Sudan on course towards a referendum in January of next year. ... It put him right on the edge of survival, and he made it."

Prichard encouraged well-wishers to post messages on the Manute Bol Get Well Soon Facebook page; friends will print out the messages there and bring them to the hospital.



