All Black legend Jonah Lomu still hopes to play in the rugby World Cup, despite a kidney transplant looking increasingly likely for the giant winger, All Blacks doctor John Mayhew said in a New Zealand Rugby Union statement.
Lomu is soon to begin treatment for chronic kidney condition which has disrupted his rugby career and led to his latest withdrawal from the game in April.
Mayhew, a vastly experienced sports doctor with the New Zealand Rugby Union, admitted a transplant is Lomu's only real chance of making a full recovery.
"In the last few weeks we have been looking at the possibility of a renal transplant," said Dr Mayhew.
"The best treatment for chronic renal failure is having a new kidney transplanted. Artificial dialysis, which filters out the blood, works but it is not a long-term solution which is ideal.
"(Any transplant) is six months away at least, we would have to find a compatible donor, but it is a distinct possibility and most possibly a probability in the future."
Lomu will receive treatment three times a week as an out-patient at the hospital, the statement said.
Lomu's manager Phil Kingsley Jones said the All Black winger remained in good spirits despite the setback.
"Jonah is very positive and he has received a great boost by all the support he has received since it became necessary for him to withdraw from playing rugby," Kingsley Jones said.
"He is very determined to get back to where he was. He has not given up on his dream of playing at the Rugby World Cup."
The World Cup starts in October in Australia.
Lomu was diagnosed as having nephrotic syndrome, a rare and serious kidney disorder, at the end of 1996 and he has since been receiving regular treatment.
PA/AFP