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THE ROAD AHEAD Bob Elliott's 11-month bout with kidney failure caused him to miss only about three weeks of work. In the third week after his successful transplant, he was back at the Guglielmino Athletics Complex on a part-time basis, spending the other hours at home on iPad video conferences when the football staff viewed tape of recruits or were making calls to prospects. He was back full-time within four weeks. It has been more than four months since the procedure, and Elliott said he feels great. "I'm not back to 100 percent, but I will be," he proclaimed. "I lost a lot of muscle mass after the surgery. My stamina on the field is probably a little bit compromised, but by the time we get to training camp it won't be. They just patch you up and throw you back out there. It's kind of like our players. Just put some tape on it and let's keep going." It's not quite that black and white. Elliott's new kidney sits near the front of his torso just below his rib cage and isn't well protected. Even a slight bump "wouldn't be good." "It changes where I stand," he explained. "The secondary coach always stands behind the secondary to be able to see. I can do that from the sideline to a certain extent, not as good as when you're out in the middle. Even last year I tried to stay off the field as much as I could because a collision with a tube in your stomach wouldn't have been good either. "I've had to make adjustments over time. I don't run around during practice like I used to. When you're a young secondary coach you're almost in the game. You can still get the work done and get the corrections done from where I stand. I can do everything I need to do." A number of prescription drugs are now part of his daily routine, though some will no longer be needed as time passes. Some are to depress the immune system so the kidney won't be rejected, and "That will be the rest of my life," he said. "Then there are antibiotics you have to take to make sure, while your immune system is depressed, you don't get an infection. That will slowly go away; one of [the prescriptions] has already gone away. "Some of the other pills will all drop to the side, and it will be the anti-rejection drugs that will stay. That's no more cumbersome than most people at my age. Most people are taking medication for something — blood pressure or cholesterol or something like that. Everybody's got something." — Wes Morgan to see them all before the move," said Elliott, who had just finished his second two-year stint at Iowa State after stops at Kansas State (2002-05) and San Diego State (2006-08). "I went to the kidney doctor and my numbers were sky high, which indicated immanent kidney failure. "They actually checked me into the hospital in Iowa. Nobody [in South Bend] knew about this at that time." As a result of the bone marrow transplant 14 years earlier, he was aware that his kidneys were "compromised" but there were no signs of failure. "Everything was going along pretty good," he said. Doctors in Iowa wouldn't discharge Elliott until he found a specialist near Notre Dame, and he was instructed to seek immediate treatment. Irish trainer Rob Hunt tracked down Dr. James Porile. Elliott's wife, Joey, drove the couple to South Bend after being advised not to fly, and Elliott was quickly admitted. Despite having gone through terrifying medical situations before, Elliott was very concerned — but not so much about his health. "My fear was that when I told Coach Kelly he would think that I couldn't do the job," Elliott said. "He didn't blink. His experience with his wife [Paqui Kelly is a two-time breast cancer survivor] and all the medical experience that he has, he's probably the best guy that could have been in that position for me. "He said, 'We'll run with it and do what we need to do. You'll be fine.' He was awesome. I can't imagine another guy like that." Forming A Game Plan The boost of confidence from Kelly helped the Elliotts dive into their research of the three forms of kidney dialysis avail- Elliott missed only about three weeks of work after his kidney transplant surgery, but said he has had to make a few adjustments to the way he coaches during practice to stay out of harm's way. PHOTO BY JOE RAYMOND 30 ! able — two of which would have prevented him from coaching. Sitting in a hospital room three times a week for three to four hours at a time wasn't an option. Neither was dialysis through the blood, which would have required the help from a second person. That's not feasible on the recruiting trail. The only realistic route was self-dialysis, or peritoneal dialysis, considering how much Elliott would be on the road recruiting and traveling with the football team during the fall. "The guy is incredible. I don't know how you deal with all the pressure and all the stress on top of not having kidneys the entire season. If he didn't tell you, you'd never know. He never complained. He always had a smile on his face and always had high energy." JUNIOR SAFETY MATTHIAS FARLEY ON ELLIOTT In the weeks prior to spring break, he was qualified for a transplant, placed on the list and trained how to deliver fluids through an IV into his stomach cavity, which would absorb the liquid and act as his kidney. "The traveling part of it — the recruiting part of it — was the hardest, but it can be done; you just have to learn how to do it and adapt," he said. "You have to lug the fluids around and the machinery around sometimes, and that's not much fun. "It changes your day a little bit. I've had to do dialysis in parking lots, but you can do it. You can't probably do as many things in a day as you did before. You have to do some dialysis in the morning, some at night and some at noon. It cuts maybe one or two stops out of your day." The Fighting Irish coaching staff knew what was going on when Elliott closed the door to his office for one of the three 40-minute treatments during the day (not including being hooked up for eight hours every night). "I did it in here with the door closed because I didn't want anybody to see it," he said. "There came a time in the fall when that just wasn't going to work. I had to do it at meeting time or I wasn't going to get it in. The guys adapted. There were some jokes at the beginning, but they adapted. After a while it wasn't even an issue." Elliott rolled his IV stand into the defensive meeting room at times, and used rental cars in parking lots while on the road as mobile treatment facilities. Passersby flashed curious looks when he sat there fidgeting with equipment while wearing a mask and surgical gloves. BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2013 FOOTBALL PREVIEW 28-31.Bob Elliott.indd 30 6/25/13 8:32 AM