Former San Pedro Coach Pacheco Battles Leukemia

Former San Pedro High football Coach Henry Pacheco is undergoing treatment at Kaiser Hospital and Permanente Medical Center in Harbor City for acute lymphocytic leukemia, a type of blood cancer that mainly affects children.

Pacheco, 48, has been hospitalized since he went to the Kaiser emergency room May 15 because of a severe sore throat. A blood test revealed that his white blood cell count was abnormally high.

“Before I knew it, they were wheeling me in,” said Pacheco, who was fired and replaced by San Pedro assistant Mike Walsh after last football season. “I was very surprised because I’m never sick. This is the first time I’ve been in the hospital.”

Pacheco’s treatment includes blood transfusions, chemotherapy and steroids to help him combat the disease.

“(The doctors) say it looks good,” he said. “But they’re playing it a little cautious. They’re really watching who comes in to visit me. In the beginning, I had a lot of visitors. But they don’t want any outside bacteria to get close to my body. I’m on an anti-bacteria diet, and I can’t have any flowers.”

Leukemia is a cancer that affects white blood cells, which protect the body against infection. Acute lymphocytic leukemia is the type that affects the lymphocytes, white blood cells that are produced in the lymph glands, and most often appears in children.

About half the children who have received treatment for acute lymphocytic leukemia have survived for at least five years and some for much longer, according to the American Medical Assn. Family Medical Guide.

“It’s very rare among adults,” Pacheco said. “I don’t know how I got it. (The doctors) don’t know how you get something like this.”

Because of frequent transfusions, Pacheco has been going through great quantities of blood. Friends and relatives, including his brother Saul, the Carson High athletic director, have donated blood. Last week San Pedro High donated 96 pints of plasma in Pacheco’s name from its blood drive.

“I’m using it so fast,” Pacheco said, “I can always use more.”

Saul Pacheco said his brother’s spirits are up, but Henry admitted that there are “some really good days and some really bad days.”

Before becoming ill, Pacheco was acquiring a transfer from San Pedro in order to pursue an assistant coaching position at one of three high schools--Carson, Gardena and Narbonne.