{"id":794932,"date":"2026-03-06T00:23:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/794932\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T00:23:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:23:36","slug":"bengals-legend-willie-anderson-undergoes-successful-kidney-transplant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/794932\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals Legend Willie Anderson Undergoes Successful Kidney Transplant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            Play video content<\/p>\n<p>                    <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/827d2f400b244e2cbdd7bda082b8575a_md.jpg\" alt=\"030526_willie_anderson_kal\" width=\"728\" height=\"410\" class=\"img-fluid\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                    X\/@BigWillie7179<\/p>\n<p>Cincinnati Bengals legend Willie Anderson just provided a positive update after undergoing a kidney transplant this week &#8230; thanking his fans, friends and loved ones for supporting him through the tough time.<\/p>\n<p>The 50-year-old All-Pro tackle has been battling kidney disease for a decade &#8230; as the pain meds he was taking to combat his numerous career-related injuries caused his organs to deteriorate.<\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_png_20260305_b2f04764c7d942cf819a9a2f8aa5a6c1\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:4154351f-8615-4ab6-8cf8-9858940a1f0c\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p>                          <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/b2f04764c7d942cf819a9a2f8aa5a6c1_md.png\" alt=\"willie anderson sub getty 2\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Anderson put his head down and got to work &#8212; losing 60 pounds to get into operation shape.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"continued\" class=\"continued-anchor\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to this week &#8212; Anderson had surgery in Atlanta, with his girlfriend being his donor &#8230; and he praised her for being a true warrior throughout the process.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Anderson said he woke up in his hospital room to her tickling his feet!!<\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_png_20260305_89ab6a6f2eb14ae5ad230f6e1eb6e189\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:4154351f-8615-4ab6-8cf8-9858940a1f0c\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p>                          <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/89ab6a6f2eb14ae5ad230f6e1eb6e189_md.png\" alt=\"willie anderson sub x 1\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;She has to be the strongest person I know,&#8221; Anderson said.<\/p>\n<p>He said he&#8217;s a little bit sore and spent some time in the ICU with high pressure &#8230; but now things are more normalized, and he&#8217;s chilling.<\/p>\n<p>                  <a class=\"js-click-image js-track-link image-lightbox-preview\" data-node-ref=\"tmz:image-asset:image_png_20260305_8d00fa3d5be449148812b382369e8fe0\" data-container-ref=\"tmz:article:4154351f-8615-4ab6-8cf8-9858940a1f0c\" data-context=\"{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;permalink&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p>                          <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/8d00fa3d5be449148812b382369e8fe0_md.png\" alt=\"willie anderson sub getty 1\" width=\"728\" height=\"546\" class=\"img-fluid image-block__img-fluid img-aspect-auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Anderson said his new kidney is doing great &#8230; and his own is still kicking, too!!<\/p>\n<p>Now, Anderson can focus on getting back to 100% before eventually returning to his gig as a high school offensive line coach and his training academy.<\/p>\n<p>Get well soon, Big Willie!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Play video content X\/@BigWillie7179 Cincinnati Bengals legend Willie Anderson just provided a positive update after undergoing a kidney&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,88,6,9,266,4429],"class_list":{"0":"post-794932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-sports-news","17":"tag-tmz-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116179384837393901","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}