The 28-year-old Hamilton man has just found out he could have five kidneys, instead of the usual two.
Mr Nordstrom, who captained his side to a club rugby competition win this year and also played for the Waikato B team, made the discovery on Monday when he was admitted to Waikato Hospital with a kidney infection.
“The doctors took a scan. Then I had to get a second one done. They wanted to have another look.”
Doctors had found one duplex kidney and one triplex kidney. Instead of having one tube or ureter joining each kidney to the bladder, Mr Nordstrom had two tubes on the left and three on the right.
Accordingly, the duplex kidney has two parts and the triplex has three parts, meaning it is quite likely Mr Nordstrom has five kidneys altogether.
“It was a real surprise,” wife Leianne said.
Despite the situation being “highly unusual” Mr Nordstrom said for 27 years he never knew any difference.
