MERRITT’S MIRACULOUS JOURNEY

American is strong contender for world title despite kidney transplant

LONDON

“A lot of it was because I thought it was probably going to be my last time running ever again,” Merritt told the New York Times last year, referring to the effort he put into winning bronze in Beijing.

“And so I just pulled a rabbit out of a hat, essentially.”

The slightly-built Merritt’s performance in China even had Leslie Thomas, his kidney specialist at the famed Mayo Clinic, in awe of the achievement.

“He had almost no kidney function, terribly anaemic, running against the Chinese fog or smog, and he came in third!,” Thomas told Sports Illustrated in 2016.

“Don’t you think that’s amazing? I mean, that’s, like, crazy.”

LaToya said she didn’t think twice about donating her kidney to Merritt, whose illness was a rare congenital kidney disease called collapsing focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), first diagnosed in 2013. AFP Aries Merritt is a strong contender to add the 110 metre hurdles world title to his 2012 Olympic gold.