Nate Robinson has shared a health update two years after he publicly shared his kidney failure diagnosis.
In an interview with the British tabloid Daily Mail, the 39-year-old former New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets player shared that he might not have long to live if he can't receive a kidney transplant. "I know that I don't have long if I can't get a kidney," Robinson said. "I know I'm not going to have long to live. So I just want to make the best of it as much as I can."
In a statement shared in 2022, Robinson revealed that he was undergoing treatment for renal kidney failure, which he had been suffering from for four years at that point. Since he's been undergoing treatment, he said that he's experienced painful vomiting as a side effect. He's also had to switch to a very strict diet.
"Some people's body reject dialysis. And thank God that mine accepts it and I can live... if I didn't go to dialysis, I wouldn't live probably longer than a week or two. So it's serious, can't miss a day. I go in for four hours, three days a week, four hours a day. And they clean my blood to get my toxins out. And they help me out a lot because that's how I'm living."
He said that it's been a "rollercoaster" and has relied on a dialysis machine, but he's trying to stay positive. " I'm just enjoying the times where I do feel healthy. I try to get out there with my kids, see my family and play basketball, do the things that I love," he added. "I still try to do all the things that I can to stay and feel normal as I can, stay as human as I can."
Robinson said that he doesn't take every day for granted and considers "every day ... a blessing."
When he opened up about his diagnosis in 2022, he told Playmaker that he learned in 2006 his high blood pressure damaged his kidneys. "They used to tell me that we’re going to have to check your blood pressure and if your blood pressure is too high, you can’t play in the game. I used to tell them, ‘Don’t check my blood pressure because I am playing regardless of what you say," said Robinson. "I thought I was young and invincible. I didn’t know it was going to catch up to me."
