Teeboy Kamara still has ambitions of earning a professional contract more than six years after the ex Adelaide United forward was the youngest A-League debutant

TEEBOY Kamara has revealed he may need a liver transplant after Hepatitis A ended his career prematurely with Adelaide United.

Teeboy Kamara is the youngest player to make an A-League debut for Adelaide United in 2011. However a battle with illness cut his career prematurely short. Picture: Eugene Hyland

TEEBOY Kamara has revealed he may need a liver transplant after Hepatitis A ended his career prematurely with Adelaide United.

Kamara was 15 years and 212 days old when former Reds boss Rini Coolen introduced him in a 3-0 loss to Gold Coast United on December 16, 2011.

It had been a big year for the striker, who had a magnificent tournament for Australia at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico in June and July that year.

But he said he was struck down by Hepatitis A after Adelaide United’s youth team’s tour to China in August 2011 and despite overcoming symptoms enough to make his A-League debut, he is still having complications.

Kamara revealed he is on daily medication in a bid keep his liver healthy almost four years after the Reds released him due to the illness.
He has been having regular hospital visits and last week doctors spotted his liver again wasn’t functioning as it should.

“They gave me two options, either to have a liver transplant or go back on medication,’’ Kamara said from Melbourne.

“I was in hospital for three days last week and now I am back on the medication to keep it under control. The problem has destroyed my career. People don’t understand, they ask me why I gave up. I was just unlucky at the time I guess.

“But I have to keep taking this medication.”

Kamara said his health deteriorated after returning from the Weifang Cup in China.

“I did have unusual blood readings when I came back from the Weifang Cup. They saw I had problems with my liver, it was a very hard two years.

Teeboy Kamara in action for United.

“I got Hepatitis A, it was unusual all my family was tested and no one had it.

“At the World Cup I got tested and never had anything but all of a sudden after the Weifang Cup it was found.”

The now 21-year-old has ambitions of earning a professional contract more than six years after the Liberian-born forward made history, becoming the youngest player to make an A-League debut nine years after landing in SA as a refugee.

Despite the setbacks Kamara is proving to be extremely resilient.

His father Tee had been murdered in Liberia, his older brother Winston passed away and his mother Esther died before he made his A-League history with Adelaide United.

Kamara is now with Victoria’s Nunawading City in the NPL 2 playing alongside former Melbourne City pair Patrick Gerhardt and Massimo Murdocca.

After playing in Perth since 2014 when he decided to leave SA in a bid to clear his head, Kamara cites his new club as a step in the right direction to become a professional again.

“I want to travel overseas to get a contract later this year,’’ Kamara said.

“I have been speaking to one of my mates at Nunawading and he told me to get fit and then we’ll see.”

Kamara last year led Liberia to victory in SA’s African Cup of Nations.

He was the player of the tournament.