ANAHEIM : Benefit Held for Victim of Leukemia

Sitting with his 6-month-old daughter on his lap, Karl Karlsen smiles like any other new father as he gently stops Marisa from stuffing everything within reach into her mouth.

But inside, leukemia is killing him--unless he gets a costly bone marrow transplant. The disease won’t kill him tomorrow, but six months, three years or five years from now, who knows?

“I want to be more to my daughter than a yellowed photograph and a grave she takes flowers to on Father’s Day,” said Karlsen, a 31-year-old Rancho Santa Margarita mail carrier. “I want to buy her her first bike, teach her to drive, hassle her boyfriend when she’s one minute late getting home from her first date and walk her down the aisle at her wedding. That’s what I want.”

Karlsen--whose health insurance may not cover the $50,000 transplant procedure he faces--was the beneficiary last week of a fund-raising breakfast at the Anaheim Plaza Resort Hotel sponsored by KKBT-FM radio. An estimated $1,300 was raised.

A fund-raising party is scheduled at the hotel June 27. Donations may be sent to attorney Randall Hite, 1119 N. Bush St., Santa Ana, 92701.

“It brings reality into focus,” Karlsen said of the fund-raising efforts. His wife, Connie, a 30-year-old bookkeeper for America West Airlines, sits beside him. “Fund-raisers are for sick people and this fund-raiser is for me.”

Karlsen’s life changed in May when he caught what he thought was the flu. But this flu just wouldn’t go away, even after several trips to the doctor.

“Then one night I came home and I got a message to call the doctor right away,” Karlsen said. “I called and he said my white blood cell count was extremely elevated and that I needed to go to the hospital right away for some tests. I asked what that meant. He said: ‘At worst, you have leukemia.’ I asked him what else I might have. He said: ‘We don’t think you have anything else.’ I just sat stunned on the bed.”

Tests were done and leukemia was confirmed. He was told he had three to five years to live unless a suitable bone marrow donor could be found. His father and sister were tested but did not match. Volunteers were tested and four possible donors were found. Further tests are being done to determine their suitability.

“My insurance company told me that because the donors are not from my family, they won’t cover the transplant,” he said. “They say there is not enough chance of success.”

He is appealing the decision.

“Some days I get fatigued,” Karlsen said. “My route has been cut from eight hours to seven because sometimes I just need to sit down and rest. But most days I feel fine. I look fine. Some people say I look too healthy to be sick.”