Detroit PGA Professional battling kidney failure
(CBS DETROIT) - The Rocket Mortgage Classic is a little over a week away, and one area golfer typically a part of the action is sidelined this year.
Native Detroiter, Anthony Ward, is a certified PGA Professional. Ward was diagnosed with a disease that's halted his career.
"I'm 28. I'm young. I had no idea my kidneys were failing at all," Ward said.
Kidney failure has forced Ward to trade in his driver for dialysis.
"It's just the fact that I'm there and actually having to be there and go through it. That's really the hardest part of it all," he said.
Diagnosed in May, Ward's dream of doing what he loves daily has been dashed.
"It's weird because I'm used to getting up every day," Ward said. "Going to work, being with kids, doing a lot of different things at the course, and to have all of that stop abruptly, it's been very difficult."
Ward was last working at Orchard Lake Country Club where he was the assistant golf professional and director of junior golf.
"[My job] entails a little bit of everything," Ward said. Yes, you're the pro [at the golf course], but you're kind of the help too."
Now, he's helping himself restore his health.
"It's different. It's not something that I'm used to at all," he said.
In 2019, as a senior in college, Ward made history by helping stage the first-ever PGA tour event in the City of Detroit. He worked as an assistant professional at the Detroit Golf Club, the host venue for the Rocket Mortgage Classic. This year, he says he'll be there, but his duties won't be the same.
Despite kidney failure, his inability to work, and a lapse in health care coverage, Ward opts for optimism, believing one day, all of this will be behind him.
"Yes, things in life can become hard and become difficult. But as long as you have faith in yourself and faith that you'll be okay, you will be okay," he said.
