Ronnie McMahan thinks about the 3- to 4-inch scar that will be on his abdomen soon.
“My son is very inquisitive,” McMahan said. “He’s like any 5-year-old. Anytime he sees a scar on my hand or leg, he’ll say, ‘Daddy, what is that one?’ I’ll have this scar I can one day show my son. He’ll ask what that is and I’ll say, ‘That’s from someone else giving me a chance to be around to spend more time with you. It was something I couldn’t do on my own.’ ”
McMahan, a former Vanderbilt basketball guard and a dean of students at Montgomery Bell Academy for the past 22 years, didn’t want to ask for someone else’s kidney.
McMahan, 53, has a hereditary disease that is causing end-stage kidney failure. His kidneys are just 9% functional. Last fall, he had to go public about his condition — doctor’s orders — to find a kidney donor, fast. The longer the wait, the more likely he would die or face a washed-out life of regular dialysis.
McMahan’s first effort was posting a Facebook video seeking potential donors. “Having to ask someone for such a great favor, admitting that I need help, that was a low point for me to have to do that,” he said.
Six months later, he went on 104.5-FM The Zone’s "3HL" radio show to talk Vanderbilt basketball. Co-host Ron Slay and McMahan know each other through basketball, and Slay gave McMahan a window to ask for potential kidney donors.
Station Camp High School soccer coach Jeremy Cooke was listening. He worked with McMahan once, briefly, but it had been almost 20 years and they hadn’t spoken since.
McMahan soon will have new life. On April 28, he’ll receive a donor’s healthy kidney.
In 2008, McMahan did Cooke a favor that changed both their lives.
Cooke, now 45, had been hired as general manager of Nashville’s American Basketball Association semi-professional basketball team, the Broncos. McMahan, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard who played with the Chicago Bulls and then overseas, was on the roster.
When the team’s ownership started biting off more than it could chew money-wise, players’ paychecks started bouncing. Cooke didn’t have anything to do with the finances, but drew the anger of players anyway.
“One game, there were five minutes before tip,” he said. “They came out and said, ‘We’re not going out there until we have cash in our hand.’ ”
McMahan — “Mac” or “Ronnie Mac” to many — stepped in. Lay off Cooke, he said, this wasn’t his fault. McMahan took the role of player relations moving forward.
The team moved to Kentucky the following season. Cooke eventually got into coaching high school soccer, and he and McMahan were disconnected for 18 years.
Deep down, maybe Cooke swore he’d return the favor someday.
McMahan still has the long, lean frame that helped him become a star basketball player at McMinn County High School and later Vanderbilt.
He remains fifth on the Commodores' all-time scoring list with 1,719 points from 1992 to 1995, averaging 18.3 points his senior year. He’s still third in career 3-point field goals made (296).
He continued lifting weights, running regularly and playing pickup ball with college buddies well into his 40s and 50s. Two years ago, things changed.
“I walked into a training room,” McMahan said, “and the athletic trainer looked at me and said, ‘Mac, your legs look swollen, what were you doing?’ ”
His skinny legs were filled with fluid. His primary care doctor referred him to a kidney specialist. They tested for 20 to 30 potential causes before a biopsy identified focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) as the cause.