Seth Edeen received the surprise of his life this past spring.
In April, as relayed by Robert Gagliardi of the Laramie Boomerang last week, the Wyoming defensive end was on the receiving end of the news that, previously unbeknownst to him, he had been born without a right kidney. Not only that, but a doctors discovered a cyst the size of a softball on top of his pancreas.
The twin discoveries were made after he was hit in the rib area during spring practice and began noticing blood in his urine, which forced what turned out to be a fortuitous visit to the doctor.
The cyst can be removed once his playing days are over, the player said, so, for now, he plans on leaving it. As for the lack of a kidney, the defensive lineman stated it won’t derail his playing career as he will simply wear a protective shield to cover his lone kidney.
Edeen stated he came to his decision to not give up the sport after he and his family had talked to 10 different doctors about the dangers of playing the sport with just one kidney.
"[The doctors] all told me the same thing, where I’d have more risk getting into a car accident driving back to Cheyenne,” Edeen told the Boomerang. “The likelihood of something bad happening was not high.”
As a walk-on last season, Edeen played in four games. He showed some flashes of talent during his brief playing time as he registered a pair of sacks.
(Photo credit: Wyoming athletics)
