The seriousness of his condition was revealed by Lomu and his wife Nadene in an exclusive interview with the New Zealand Woman's Weekly, which went on sale this morning.
In the five page interview Lomu details how his recent problems caught him by surprise, and quickly developed into a life-threatening situation.
"It just went pear-shaped one afternoon," Lomu told theNew Zealand Woman's Weekly.
"I thought it was just a cold or food poisoning. I couldn't put my finger on it.
"All I knew was that I didn't feel well and I couldn't hold any food down for about 10 days. I was basically starving."
Lomu told the magazine he was hot, cold and shivering.
"Last Friday, the 23rd (of September), I was just about to leave for a function and I crashed.
"My kidney was failing and my body had become so toxic it started to shut down," he said.
Despite many tests it wasn't until last Wednesday that he and wife Nadene received any answers about what was happening.
Nadene said they were hoping the results would tell them whether Lomu needed another transplant.
"They've said there's a very slim chance this kidney may survive. So for now Jonah's having dialysis every day and a load of other treatments to see if it can be revived."
Lomu told the magazine he would fight against the latest setback - but needed his kidney to fight also.
"My kidney needs a rest, then it needs to wake up and start working.
"It needs to fight."
- NZ Herald staff
