Thornton Kidney Research Foundation

David Thornton visited 26 doctors before physicians at USC Medical Center diagnosed his rare kidney disease. He was told he might have intestinal cancer, blood clots in his lungs or lupus before USC surgeons removed one kidney and operated on the other. Doctors say patients undergoing that kind of trauma frequently try to forget their disease--or deny it--but Thornton, 24, responded by starting a foundation to raise $2.5 million for kidney research.

David Thornton visited 26 doctors before physicians at USC Medical Center diagnosed his rare kidney disease. He was told he might have intestinal cancer, blood clots in his lungs or lupus before USC surgeons removed one kidney and operated on the other. Doctors say patients undergoing that kind of trauma frequently try to forget their disease--or deny it--but Thornton, 24, responded by starting a foundation to raise $2.5 million for kidney research.

An Arcadia man who established a foundation that he promised would give $2.5 million to USC's Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center was arrested by federal agents Friday on charges of embezzling donations intended for the facility. David Frederick Thornton, 36, also was charged with carrying out other scams in which he allegedly posed as a doctor, a diplomat, an FBI agent and a CIA operative.