Kevin McDonald is seeking a new lease of life on the pitch after facing a desperate fight for survival off it.
The Dundee United new boy was in urgent need of a kidney transplant but while his brother Fraser was a match and donated one of his, McDonald’s body rejected it in the days following the operation.
That left the 33-year-old fearing the worst as doctors fought to turn around the dire situation.
A make-or-break course of medication was prescribed in a bid to have McDonald’s body accept the transplanted kidney and after 10 days of waiting and worrying, he was given the news he had been praying for.
The kidney was functioning properly and he could set about resuming a normal life.
McDonald, who could make his debut against St Johnstone today, said: “The rejection part was the hardest part as you don’t know if it’s going to work. You start thinking, ‘Am I going to get another transplant?’.
“Fortunately enough, I was fine before the transplant but the rejection was a nasty rejection. You don’t feel anything and you can’t control what’s going on inside you.
“They overcome it by using ATG (anti-thymocyte globulin). I was taking my bloods each day and after every day they’d assess me.
“The first dose worked and as soon as they’d done 10 days of it they said ‘you’re good to have a couple of days here and move on’.”
While McDonald has now made a first-class recovery he revealed it was no thanks to the bungling Royal Mail.
The former Fulham midfielder said: “It wasn’t meant to be my brother who was going to be the donor.
“It was meant to be my best mate. It was actually down to Royal Mail.
“People I had nominated had blood things sent out and my mates sent them back and my brother sent them back.
“I went to London to see the surgeon, it was an appointment on a random Tuesday night and the surgeon was like, ‘So Danny Miller’ – that’s my best mate – ‘he will be your transplant’.
“I had no clue about it so I asked, ‘But what about my brother?’.
“The surgeon said, ‘We have not had your brother’s blood back’. It was a strange situation. Then something fell through with Danny’s, not through his choice, on the medical side.
“By that time my brother’s blood had been analysed, and he ended up coming in and giving his kidney to me. It turned out the Royal Mail had sent his bloods back to the wrong place! It was funny.”
McDonald was grateful for the way the football community rallied round with Ivan Klasnic and Andy Cole both reaching out after going through a similar process.
But his worries were multiplied because his wife, Lucy, was pregnant and they had to go into self-isolation for long periods during Covid.
The desire for more of a support network for them both was the main reason for a return to Scotland.
McDonald was seriously thinking about hanging up his boots and starting his coaching career after 18 months out of the game but his surgeon was adamant he could still play at the top level.
Having trained with St Johnstone and Dundee he has now signed a deal at Tannadice until the summer.
McDonald said: “I had a plan in my head of where I needed to get to physically first and foremost.
“I trained with the Fulham Under-23s for three months, then went to Portsmouth and a couple of other teams local to where we lived in Surrey.
“Then when we came up to Carnoustie for a couple of weeks, I got in touch with Dundee to train there. That’s when I was getting back to fitness.
“After that, I tried to come here and then St Johnstone but it didn’t work out because of Covid reasons.
“I just wanted to see different facilities at different clubs, different styles of play and so on and that’s how we ended up here. I am grateful I have been given an opportunity by this club.”
McDonald was on the bench for the midweek Dundee derby, would love to extend things beyond the summer and he is confident his new kidney won’t be a problem.
He said: “It’s about playing again and that’s the reason why I’ve signed a few months’ contract. The last thing I want to do is go out and look like a bag of s***e. If I can get through that side of it then I’m confident I’ll play to a good level.
“In terms of what I want to achieve, it’s all about getting playing again.”
