Randy Romero came from a Southern horse racing family. As one trainer told me, "Coming out of Louisiana, nobody could ride a horse like Randy."
The 47-year-old former jockey I saw in that room connected to Suburban hospital, had given his life and his body to horse racing. And he still couldn't walk away from the sport he loves.
His kidneys had been ravaged by the pressure to maintain the low weight required of a thoroughbred rider. Now, three days a week he was tethered to a machine that replaced his failed organs.
A kidney transplant was once a hope, but Randy lost his spleen when a horse fell on him years ago. Doctors now say, infections would just destroy the new organs.
And kidneys are just part of the problem. Romero has a bad liver, that was damaged by a tainted blood transfusion.
He needed blood when he was badly burned in a sauna explosion. He was in the sauna at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, to lose weight.
And jockeys riding today at race tracks across the country, look at Randy Romero and see themselves.
There is danger, everytime they get a leg up on a fast thoroughbred. And like Romero, most lack adequate health insurance to get them through treatment of a serious injury.
And the injuries continue to happen.
Last January, jockey Gary Boulanger took a terrible fall at Gulfstream Park, and was in critical condition for weeks. He has recovered to some extent, but hasn't resumed riding, and fellow jockeys are raising money to help him.
There was just such an effort to help Randy Romero in Kentucky, and while they help their fellow jockeys, the riders also wonder, who's next.
As you look at the scars that run down Romero's arms, you wonder what can be done to protect these young people, who risk so much in their race to fame on horseback.
In the world of thoroughbred racing, where unproven horses command millions of dollars, jockeys still risk their futures and lives for sometimes less than a hundred dollars a race.
But Randy Romero will not walk away. He is mentoring a young rider by the name of Randall Toups, who recently won on several long shots at Churchill's fall meet.
Romero is living for the future through his young apprentice. Yet his lifestyle has been changed to include three afternoons every week, to cleanse his blood.
And Randall Toups, 30 year younger, rides into an exciting but uncertain future, that is clouded by health care for jockeys that doesn't match the danger of the sport.