Prior to the Pacers/HEAT game last month, HEAT Legend Alonzo Mourning hosted a meet and greet with Jauron Jones, who has been battling a life-threatening condition since infancy. Jones’ body cannot absorb enough nutrients from food to sustain life, which has led to health scares over the years. He underwent bone marrow, liver and small intestine transplants before age two. The teenager was placed on a waiting list for another liver and small intestine transplant when both organs started to fail again, but was recently taken off the list when his liver seemed to be healing, Jones said.
Mourning, a kidney transplant recipient, understood the difficulties of living with a chronic illness.
He had a one-on-one chat with Jones before the game.
“I told him, ‘I want you to stay positive because the body follows the mind.’ Unfortunately this young kid is dealing with (serious) health obstacles,”
Mourning said. “People have a tendency to give up but Jauron has been strong enough, where he hasn’t given up. He stayed positive through the whole process.”
Jauron said meeting Mourning was the best part of getting to hang out with the HEAT, because they both have had organ transplant surgeries. “He’s been through what I’ve been through,” he said. “It made me happy because he had encouraging words for me.”
Several HEAT Players including Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem and Mario Chalmers took some time meet Jones and took photos as well. “I’ve been the beneficiary of an organ donor and having a life-saving transplant,” said Mourning. “It’s a simple procedure. You can just have it put on your driver’s license, go to the DMV and have it done.”