GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – A former basketball coach at an Eastern Carolina high school was forced to step down for health reasons, but he hopes to get back on the sidelines.

Just when William Knight returned to coach at D.H. Conley last season, his body said otherwise.

“It’s tough at times, seriously, it’s tough at times, especially this past year when I had to step down from coaching. I just didn’t have the energy to go,” said Knight.

After being diagnosed with kidney disease in 2008 and undergoing his first kidney transplant in 2012, he’s on the wait list for another.

“They put me back on in October even though I was still having kidney function,” said Knight. His doctors knew it was just a matter of time before he needed another one.

Knight said while the journey has been hard, coaching the women’s team was a great way to occupy his time.

“He just believed me to be a leader even if I wasn’t stepping up, he’ll remind me you’re the leader of this team and bring everybody together if we’re down,” said Charlazha Wilson, one of his former basketball players.

He’s undergoing treatment once again.“Right now, I’m doing PD dialysis.”

He says everything is going okay so far, but a transplant could change his life.“I’m just hoping and praying I can get a kidney in the very near future and be back on the court somewhere coaching.”

Knight also says his kidney disease has led him to meet some amazing people. In fact, when he needed his first kidney transplant- his JV team raised awareness about his disease and just three months later, he got a transplant.

Knight encourages people to become organ donors, as says that one donor can save eight lives.

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