Tom Martinez is living proof that you can't keep a good man down.
The man who has mentored Tom Brady since the New England Patriots' quarterback was a teenager revealed two weeks ago that he had only a few weeks to live, losing battles with diabetes complications and a failing kidney. But on Saturday he was back on the football field, mentoring 35 teenagers at his 33rd annual quarterback camp in Woodside, Calif. Boosted by an overwhelming public response to his news, Martinez told the kids that "positive things" have happened since his revelation.
"I'm feeling better, and I'm optimistic after being almost completely certain that I was going to die," Martinez told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Eight people offered Martinez their kidneys after his daughter, Linda, took to Facebook to post a message of thanks from her father to the football, softball and women's basketball players he coached at College of San Mateo. The elder Martinez was told it would be difficult to find a kidney donor, and then he was told he would also need a heart transplant.
"One kid I used to coach said he would give both his kidney and his heart, but obviously I couldn't do that," Martinez said. "It was all very touching."
But then the parents of a former athlete helped Martinez -- who was receiving treatment at Stanford -- meet with doctors at UCLA, "where they're less conservative," he said.
In quick succession, adjustments were made to his pacemaker (which was implanted in March), and a blood donor was found.
"Incredible, isn't it?" Martinez said. "After my camp ends, I will go back down to UCLA for some internal tests, to see if I can handle surgery. They might try to do a double transplant if everything works."
'Positive things' help Martinez during uphill health battle
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