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LOUISIANA. – Gabriel Mvumvure spent most of his college career on the track.

“The hundred metres, the 200. I did the 4×100 relay, and occasionally I did the 4×4, but I didn’t like it that much,” said Mvumvure.

Now he’s spending his days in the hospital.“Three times a week, I have to do it. so Monday, Wednesday. Friday and the dialysis session is four hours,” said Mvumvure.

A physical during Mvumvure’s sophomore year discovered high blood pressure.

“I didn’t think it was a major issue, until I had to continue being on meds and all that stuff.

“It got worse last year because it was unmonitored for a certain time, it got really bad where I had to be admitted to the hospital,” said Mvumvure.

Mvumvure is now in a race for his life, but overcoming long odds isn’t something he hasn’t done before.

The former Tiger was a national champion sprinter at Louisiana State University in the United States in 2008, before more recently becoming an Olympian for his home country of Zimbabwe this summer.

He was diagnosed with kidney failure, only months earlier he was competing at the Olympic Games for Zimbabwe in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“I was representing Zimbabwe in the Olympics, my first ever in Olympics to actually represent Zimbabwe and I enjoyed every minute of it.

“There some things that you actually feel like a dream is coming true.

“At that time, I didn’t really care what happened in Rio.

“I was just happy that out of the billions of people in the world, I’m going to be one of the thousands that actually represent his country in the Olympic Games.”

He hopes to be able to compete again one day.

“I have to do a transplant if I want to live a normal life,” Mvumvure said. “One doctor in the hospital told me you have about 5 or 6 years.

“That’s what he’s seen in young people.

“And I would love, and believe I have a life ahead of me.”

But the Zimbabwe native doesn’t have health insurance.

His coach helps a fundraiser through the Tiger Athletic Foundation will get him across the finish line.

“He’s a Tiger that’s in need now and certainly we’re reaching out to everybody in hopes that it can come to fruition for him,” said LSU Track and Field Head Coach Dennis Shaver.

“You never know what tomorrow brings.

“So in every moment that you have each day, be grateful enough to be alive, be grateful enough to be healthy, be grateful enough to love your loved ones around you cause you never know when they will have to face things, they’ll have to fight for their life,” said Mvumvure.

Mvumvure made a name for himself on the track at LSU, representing LSU on the world’s biggest stage. But after coming home from Rio, he was diagnosed with kidney failure due to high blood pressure. Now he’s fighting sickness every day.

“It was around October, I just started feeling like I had stomach pains. I was getting sick, nauseous, fevers, and I felt like I was about to pass out. So then the paramedics got called and took me to the hospital.

“Unfortunately my kidneys had worsened because they were struggling monitoring my blood pressure or lowering it down. That caused a lot of damage on my kidneys,” Mvumvure said.

LSU track and field coach Shaver remembers, “It was heartbreaking for all of us to know that he was in that type of condition suffering.”

The damage causing Mvumvure to have start dialysis, a treatment that’s doing his kidney’s work for him.

“Now if I want to live a normal life, I have to do a transplant because they say dialysis in young people really cuts your life span.”

Coach Shaver and LSU are now raising money for a kidney transplant, and all Mvumvure can do is wait. But no matter what happens, he’s not giving up hope.

“I don’t know, it’s something within me being an athlete. I believe that it doesn’t matter how big an obstacle is there’s always someway to get out. I just hope that we reach the goal, but if we don’t reach the goal I’ll still be grateful that they at least gave me an opportunity to live this out.”

An opportunity he hope comes in the next two or three months.

As soon as the Tiger Athletic Foundation can raise $250 000, Mvumvure’s treatment for a kidney transplant can begin. – Wires.