Nate Robinson's Determined Fight to Stay Alive

The former Husky and NBA guard is in need of a kidney transplant.

Ex-Husky guard Nate Robinson reacts to a call in in Denver. / Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

Nate Robinson was given a body that was more gifted than most, with the amazing ability to jump out of a gym. Or out of a football stadium, for that matter.

His athletic prowess took him from a season as an instantly successful University of Washington cornerback to a rousing Husky basketball revival to a near dozen scintillating years in the NBA, mesmerizing everyone at every step, or leaping bound.

Robinson, 40, was a freak of nature, a fan favorite, a well-compensated professional athlete, so fortunate to be him.

Yet today, he suffers from rapidly escalating kidney failure and he's in need of an organ transplant, to the point he has taken his personal plight public. It almost seems as if life itself is calling in its marker with this exquisite athlete, certainly now threatening his very existence, his mortality.

"I gotta stick around," Robinson told Men's Health magazine, his comments this week going viral across the sporting world. "I want to stay alive for the next 40 years: be a grandpa, see my kids’ kids, take them to the gym, tell them the stories of when I was in the NBA around 'Bron and Kob' and all these guys, I gotta fight for it."

Ex-Husky Nate Robinson claps to excite the crowd in Chicago during the 2013 NBA Playoffs against the Miami Heat. / Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

In a bit of cruel coincidence, or genetic impertinence, he is the son of one-time Husky headliner Jacque Robinson, who burst onto the athletic scene as the 1982 Rose Bowl Most Valuable Player as a freshman finished up as the 1985 Orange Bowl MVP as a senior, and who has his own health issues.

Similar to his son, Jacque Robinson, 61, who lives in California, undergoes kidney dialysis treatments.

An 11-year NBA player for eight teams, Nate Robinson was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2006, when he was a rookie guard, his situation prefaced by hypertension. Told he would likely experience kidney failure in his 30s, he tried to ignore the warnings.

"I felt like Superman," the younger Robinson told the health magazine.

Four years ago, Robinson sat down in the Rainier Beach gym in south Seattle to give an update on himself and he was fairly upbeat. He was four years removed from his final NBA game, but still contemplating a comeback. He had an ill-advised boxing match coming up that didn't go well. He owned a local restaurant. He son played football and basketball for his alma mater.

Shortly after that local interview, the COVID pandemic disrupted life for everyone and Robinson was infected with the virus, hospitalized, had his kidneys negatively impacted and told he needed to begin dialysis almost immediately or there would be consequences. Initially, he was angry over his dire situation.

"[They said] 'Your kidneys are working too hard; they’re deteriorating as we speak. The only way you will walk out of here alive is if you start dialysis,' " he said. "It was the only thing I had left."

Robinson told Men's Health he hopes to get on the Washington state kidney transplant wait list and eventually the national registry. After being staggered by his deteriorating health, he's accepted it and ready to fight back as best he can.

"That’s one thing I respect about myself," he said. "I’ve never been a quitter and I ain’t gonna start now."