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New York Jets great Bart Scott has claimed there was a 'plan in place' for ex-teammate Nick Mangold to overcome his battle with kidney disease before he tragically passed away this weekend.
Mangold, who spent the entirety of his 10-year career with the Jets, died at the age of 41 on Saturday night, the team announced hours before their Sunday afternoon game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
His passing comes just weeks after he made a desperate plea for a kidney donor, revealing he was trying to find someone with Type O blood to help him beat the chronic disease.
And after the heartbreaking news was announced on Sunday, Scott suggested there was optimism of a breakthrough before Jets owner Woody Johnson informed him that Mangold had passed away.
'A loss for words is really what my initial reaction is,' the former linebacker, who played alongside Mangold for four years, said on the Jets' pregame SNY show. 'When Woody called me this morning and said that we lost Nick, I said what do you mean we lost Nick?
Jets great Bart Scott has claimed there was a 'plan in place' for ex-teammate Nick Mangold to beat kidney disease before his death at 41
Mangold, who spent the entirety of his 10-year career with the Jets, died on Saturday night
'We had just got the news and we were so hopeful that there was a plan in place that we were gonna find a way to make sure that we figure it out.
'These are one of those things where you just expect it to go a different way. I was anticipating some type of organ drive or something like that and the story ends with a happy ending, and we all can go on and Nick can be the loving father, teammate and friend.'
'It doesn't feel real,' Scott added. 'It still doesn't feel real. My heart just goes out for his children and his wife and his family. I mean, that was his world and he was their world and he was our world, right? He was bigger than life, right?'
Mangold was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder back in 2006 and, earlier this month, he announced that he needed a new kidney, issuing a public plea to fans as he searched for a donor. He shared four children with his partner, Jenny - Matthew, Eloise, Thomas, and Charlotte.
More to follow.
