WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |Athens teen who played 1 game gets new liver
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Associated Press - October 31, 2009 11:15 AM ET
WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) - A year ago, Darin "Doogie" Weiks of Athens was a high school football celebrity in central Wisconsin. He played one game that was his first and also his last because of a rare, genetic liver disease.
Now the 18-year-old is celebrating again - his new liver.
His father, Darin Weiks Sr., says recent transplant surgery at a Mayo Clinic hospital in Rochester, Minn., went well. The father said the doctor told the family that the donor liver is a good match.
Doogie Weiks couldn't play football as he desperately wanted because of the risk of a hit rupturing his enlarged liver.
But for the final game last season, the senior suited up as the kicker and made 3 of 5 extra point tries in a win over Abbotsford, an experience he described as "the best thing in my life."
Information from: Wausau Daily Herald, http://www.wausaudailyherald.com
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