Drew Duszynski is not a major-league ballplayer. At least not yet—he’s only 5, after all. But if he ever chooses to pursue that path, he has a role model in White Sox radio announcer Ed Farmer.
“People ask me how I’m doing,” the South Side native said. “I feel [bleep]ing great.”
While Drew recovers from a recent kidney transplant at home with his family in Milwaukee, Jan. 18 marked 25 years to the day since Farmer underwent the same procedure. Both he and Drew suffer from polycystic kidney disease, which is hereditary.
The play-by-play man pitched 11 years in the majors, including three with the Sox (1979-81). It was during his time with Chicago that his stats noticeably declined, jumping from 3.34 ERA in 1980 to 4.61 the next. That was not a coincidence.
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“My kidneys were bleeding because the cysts started to pop,” Farmer said. “[Before I experienced symptoms] I would go out for a 10-mile run in the offseason three days a week, and I would run it in an hour and 8 minutes. And when I was with the Phillies [starting in 1982], nobody knew what was wrong with me. I couldn’t run from the dugout to first base [without being winded].”
He tried to handle the symptoms on his own for a while, despite the fact his mother died of kidney disease at age 39.
“If you do nothing, then your body’s going to react,” Farmer said.
In August 1990, his kidneys failed to the point that he was hospitalized, and Farmer ultimately required a transplant; his brother Tom donated one of his kidneys. Yet as frightening as Farmer’s own experiences were, he expressed every confidence young Drew would be healthy in no time.
“He’s gonna do great,” Farmer said. “Your kidneys work at 20 percent of capability because that’s all they have to do. My one kidney that my brother Tom gave me doesn’t have to work at 100 percent. It works at 80 because that’s what keeps me healthy.
“It’s a beautiful thing this 35-year-old [kidney donor] is doing for this young person. … That’s a gift you can never repay. As much as I try [to repay my brother], I can never repay it. We’re all in this together.”
Chris Sosa is RedEye’s sports editor. @redeyesportschi