Coach William Lawson III in action on the basketball court (Photo courtesy William Lawson III)
When William Lawson III beckons, the stars come out.
The stars aligned when the Petersburg High School athletic director and coach got a lifesaving kidney transplant in 2018, and the stars came out the following year for fundraising tournaments he organized to increase awareness of kidney disease and diabetes and to raise $4,500 for the American Kidney Fund.
On Wednesday, Lawson was recognized for those efforts as the 2020 Hero of Hope at the Kidney Fund’s annual Hope Affair. The celebration was a virtual event this year because of the pandemic.
He attended the event in person after his transplant in 2018, and after listening to others share their stories at the event, he found himself inspired to further the nonprofit’s work. “I decided, hey, this is something that I can do, to give back,” he says.
Lawson has deep roots in the community. He’s the namesake of a father and grandfather who were coaches in Petersburg, his mother was a school administrator, and his grandmother served as a teacher. The grandfather coached football in the 1950s and ’60s at Virginia State University. His late father over a 36-year career earned more than 600 wins as a coach and led teams to 26 regular-season championships. He also was named to the Virginia High School League Hall of Fame in 1999.
His son, William Lawson III, took a similar career path. He also followed a similar medical trajectory: His father, too, suffered from kidney disease and had to endure dialysis.
The younger Lawson didn’t know his kidneys were failing him until Thanksgiving in 2008. Up to then he had seemed healthy, he says, and, like many young men, had not been going to the doctor, even for checkups. But getting ready for church, he couldn’t put on his good shoes and, embarrassed, he went to church in loafer-type shoes instead because his feet were so swollen. He was unwell that evening at his mother’s and went to an urgent care facility in Petersburg. Test results showed a problem, and he was told to seek care. He drove himself to HCA Chippenham Hospital.
There, “everything started moving fast,” he says.
He was hospitalized and placed on dialysis, which he had to continue for several years.
While on dialysis, he’d spend mornings at school, then three times weekly head to the dialysis center for four hours of treatment, returning later in the afternoon to work with his players and for games.
He wanted to get on the list for an organ transplant, but says that he was borderline in terms of being a good risk because of his weight. He decided to have a gastric sleeve operation to lose weight, dropped 50 pounds and got on the kidney transplant list.
“They usually say you can last 10 years average [on dialysis]. I thought I was getting close to then, to be honest with you, and felt I needed to go a different route.”
He got a heads-up call about a kidney, but it fell through. A few weeks later, the phone rang at 3:30 a.m. It was his turn for a kidney.
He showered and prepped. His foot was heavy on the accelerator as he made the drive to Richmond and VCU Health for the operation, arriving before 5 a.m. The surgery was done that afternoon. That evening, he was watching an NBA championship game with a friend in his hospital room.
He was released a few days later, though the kidney didn’t kick in and begin to function until about a week later.
Soon, he was back on the job.
Kidney Fund financial relief programs helped allay some of the dialysis costs, and later, some of the costs for the transplant.
He was grateful, and following the Kidney Fund banquet, inspired.
Lawson called on the talents of some of his former players and Petersburg High alumni and on others who had played locally, organizing an all-star benefit and two alumni games. Returning players included Frank Mason III, who played college hoops at the University of Kansas and in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings and Milwaukee Bucks.
Lawson was pleased with the turnout. “Once you play for the basketball program in Petersburg, it’s family,” he says. “It was great for everyone to come back. It turned out to be a good event.”
