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Having spent more than 30 years giving back to student-athletes as a college tennis coach at multiple levels, Lee Underwood is now hoping someone can give back to him as a living kidney donor.

Underwood, the Barton College men’s and women’s tennis coach, has been diagnosed with stage 5 kidney failure. With nearly 100,000 individuals waiting for a kidney donor in the United States alone, Underwood and his wife, Cherie, who have three children, are hoping the public will hear their story and get tested to see if they are a match as a living kidney donor.

“It was my wife that talked me into going public with this. I was on dialysis for over a year before anyone knew. She told me that we will never find a living donor if we do not share my story,” Underwood said. “She is the backbone to all the social media posts about me and getting the local TV station out of Raleigh to come to our home to do a story.”

Currently, Underwood relies on dialysis treatments five times a week until he finds a donor. He wakes up at 4 a.m. to do his treatment, and it lasts about three hours for each session. His treatment doesn’t stop because of his coaching duties either. Underwood packs nearly 30 boxes of saline to use during road trips with the Barton men’s and women’s teams.

Underwood has already overcome numerous medical adversities throughout his life. He’s been a Type I diabetic since birth and overcame colon cancer in 2020, before being hit with his latest challenge in 2021 when he was diagnosed with kidney failure.

“It is very important to find a living donor for many reasons. I could have a better quality of life,” Underwood said. “There are so many restrictions with dialysis. A few things are liquid intake. I can only have 32 ounces of liquid a day. I have to watch what I eat due to the phosphates in food. I have to take binders (tablets) with each meal and everything I eat. I am restricted to showering with a special cover that keeps water out of the cvc port I have in my chest. Lastly, I sit in a chair for three hours doing dialysis. It is a very long process and a living donor could change everything for me.”

Those interested in helping Underwood are encouraged to visit a transplant center to be evaluated and see if they are a match and healthy enough to donate. Living donors can contact ECU Health in Greenville, North Carolina, to test to see if they can be Lee’s specific match by calling 252-847-9121 or applying through ecuh.donorscreen.org.

Donors typically spend one or two nights in the hospital with follow-up appointments for up to six weeks. The Underwoods also note that their insurance will cover all medical costs associated with this transplant procedure.

A native of Fayetteville, W.Va., Underwood graduated from Davis & Elkins in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education and earned his master's degree from West Virginia in physical education.

Prior to coaching at Barton, Underwood coached at Edinboro (Pa.), West Virginia Wesleyan, and Davis & Elkins.

Despite his medical issues, Underwood never wanted to stop coaching tennis. It’s been a bright spot in his life as he waits to find a donor.

“First and foremost, you can not let dialysis or kidney disease take control of your life. I live my life as normal as possible,” he said. “Not much has changed other than I do have to do dialysis to keep going. Coaching is my life and this does not stop me from doing anything.”

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About Rhiannon Potkey

Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories. Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches. Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You can reach Rhiannon by email at [email protected].