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A wrestling coach helps a team member's dad win at life

- Shannon Scovel

SAM LATONA, a two-time NCAA All-American wrestler for the Virginia Tech Hokies, remembers getting the call from his family with news that his father was sick. It was January 2022, and the team was traveling back to their campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, after a meet.

His dad, Norm Latona, was in kidney failure. Norm's treatment started with in-home dialysis, where a tube was inserted into his belly to flush it and function as his kidney. It worked for about a year. But then his condition declined. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, and that, Sam says, was one of the scariest moments for the family.

Sam's brother Dom Latona had also wrestled at Virginia Tech. Now Dom was in medical school, and he was able to help explain the intricacies of the situation to Sam.

"I remember having conversations with my mom and my brothers just like, 'What do we [have] to do?' and kind of crying to each other," says Sam. "But at the end of the day, we had each other's backs and we were there for each other." Norm, who lives in Alabaster, Alabama, had to go into a dialysis clinic several times a week for hours at a time to clean out his kidneys. Still, the proud dad kept traveling to watch Sam, finding treatment centers in each city. He spent as much time as he could in Blacksburg, too, for Sam's home meets.