Last October, doctors diagnosed Scott Velez with kidney failure. Now, the 19-year-old front-wheel-drive racer is using racing to try to find a kidney donor.
“The symptoms are pain … on one side of my body,” said Velez, of Newport, Tennessee. “We just recently found out why. I have one kidney and there’s a kidney stone. When I overdo it, let’s say working outside or doing heavy lifting, I get pains in my back. It wears me out. I had to see a heart doctor, because the kidney was affecting my heart, because when the kidney works hard, so does my heart. Sometimes, I feel exhausted.”
Velez’s doctors informed him that they’ll be placing him on a list of those seeking transplants next week.
“When we were at UT [Medical Center], they said, ‘Get word the out — billboards, flyers, anything you can,’” Velez said. “That’s the only way to get a living donor.”
Thanks to Rick Foust, of Foust Screen Designs, Velez now carries the message “In Need of a Kidney” on the hood of his front-wheel-drive. He plans to debut that message this Saturday at The Sweetheart at 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tennessee.
If you’d like to be considered as a donor, contact Lanny Martin — 865-305-5340, [email protected] — and mention Velez’s full name “Patrick Scott Velez.”
According to the National Kidney Foundation, “you must be in good physical and mental health” to donate. Likewise, you should be over 18 years old and have normal kidney function. Some conditions may prevent you from donating, such as “having uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, HIV, hepatitis, and acute infections.”
Scott Velez hopes to return to normal in the near future, but recognizes the wait for a kidney can take months, if not more than a year.
“This kidney situation has changed my perspective on life,” said Velez. “It’s made me enjoy life more. I don’t know if I’ll make it tomorrow or the next day, so I want to live life. And, my life is racing, and that’s what I want to do.”
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
