A 16-year-old kid in Michigan named Sam Heintz played a ton of baseball this summer. And it’s only possible because of something his mom did for him nearly a decade ago.
He has a rare kidney disease, and had a transplant when he was eight. They usually put your new kidney on the right side of your body. But he’s left-handed, and his mom knew it might mean he’d never play baseball again.
If the kidney was on his right side, he could get hit by a pitch there and be in real trouble again. So she asked his doctors if they could put it on his left side instead, and they agreed. Eight years later, he’s thriving and still playing ball.
