Jonah Lomu, Rugby World Cup Star, and His Nephrotic Syndrome

Jonah Lomu, rugby world cup star, and his nephrotic syndrome

Jonah Lomu (12 May 1975 – 18 November 2015) was a New Zealand professional rugby union player. Lomu is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential players in the history of the sport.

Standing 6 foot 5 inches and weighing 119 kilograms, Lomu was famed for his unprecedented speed, strength and agility. Exceptionally large for a wing player, he is also known as the first winger to be a physical heavyweight. He became the youngest ever All Black when he played his first international in 1994 at the age of 19 years and 45 days. He was the star of the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

At the end of 1995, Lomu was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome due to focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) a type of chronic glomerulonephritis (GN) – the very same year he ran over the top of England fullback Mike Catt in the World Cup semi-final.

His rugby union career went on hold whilst the disorder was treated. In May 2003, the NZRFU announced that Lomu had been put on dialysis three times a week. Lomu underwent a kidney transplant on 28 July 2004 in Auckland, New Zealand. The kidney was donated by Wellington radio presenter Grant Kereama.

FSGS is known to be one of the more aggressive GNs, with a tendency to recur in a transplant. Hence he was on the waiting list for a second kidney transplant after this first transplant failed in 2011. On the morning of 18 November 2015, Lomu died unexpectedly, aged 40 years, in Auckland from a heart attack linked to his kidney disease.

Students from Wesley College, a secondary school in Auckland that had been attended by the late Jonah Lomu, pay their respects to the All Blacks rugby hero by performing a haka.