He had been Auburn's Bowler of the Year during the 2005-'06 season. The year before, he finished runner-up in The Citizen Masters. Storrs once rolled back-to-back perfect games in a league match at Starlite Lanes, and had shot an 800 series.

Indeed, Storrs had talent. He competed as a regional pro, hoping to eventually land a spot on the Denny's PBA Tour. There, he could test his skills against the best players in the world.

He'd gotten his body the way he wanted it. A strict diet and exercise had trimmed his frame from 375 to 211 pounds this season. Early on he rolled a 300 game at Falcon Lanes, and another monster year was clearly within his grasp, or so he thought. But things took a sudden turn.

Today Storrs, 28, lives alone in his Auburn home, both of his kidneys failing, no job and no health insurance. His mother, Paula, has had her leg amputated and faces several more months of therapy at the St. Camillus Health and Rehabilitation Center.

Brian has tubes sticking out of his chest. Three days a week, those tubes are connected to a hemodialysis machine.

“My doctor told me that if I went without the hemodialysis for more than a few days, I would die,” Storrs said Sunday in a telephone interview.

He needs a kidney transplant. A high-school friend was recently tested as a possible donor but didn't match.

“I'm on a donor list, but it could be years before I get a kidney,” he said. “I'm pushing for a living donor because there would be fewer complications and less chance of rejection.”

Storrs' downhill slide began in January, when he began feeling run down, even exhausted. He lost his voice. It was more than what his job on the graveyard shift at Wal-Mart should have caused.

“I thought it was stress,” Storrs said. “My mom had been sick, and I had some other things going on in my life.”

A month later he was admitted to the ICU at St. Joseph's in Syracuse, critically ill.

“I've been hit real hard,” Storrs said. “The doctors still aren't exactly sure what I have and what caused it.”

He feels OK some days. On others, he struggles with nausea and dizziness. Dreams of returning to the game he loves run through his head.

Meanwhile, three of Storrs' co-workers at Wal-Mart, Bridget Bell, Donna Derby and Jamie Gleason, are organizing a benefit. It will be Sunday, April 13 at the Ukrainian National Club from 1 to 5 p.m. A pasta dinner will be served, and there will be raffles and door prizes.

He plans to attend, and hopes to have his mother there as well. Storrs is also anxious to see his friends in the bowling community. It would be a big boost, he said.

“I've always tried to do the best job I could at things, not just bowling,” he said. “When I was out on the lanes, I always took it very seriously. Maybe people don't know that I'm a very easy-going guy, and that I get along well with a lot of the bowlers.

“I'd be elated to see all of them there.”