Donor Found to Help Mighty Ducks’ Holan

Mighty Duck defenseman Milos Holan this week got the news that could save his life. Doctors told him Wednesday that they had located a suitable prospective bone marrow donor and had found at least one other potential match.

Although the donor that doctors choose still must undergo a thorough physical exam to be sure there is no reason not to proceed, and then must make a final commitment to donate, Holan has been told to prepare to undergo a transplant in four to six weeks.

Holan, whose condition was diagnosed as a slow-progressing form of leukemia in September, said the dangerous transplant procedure and tedious yearlong recovery would be hard but he welcomed the news.

“If you have a donor, you have a better chance to cure this,” he said. “Some people wait their whole life for a donor and some people die. I’m the lucky one.”

Holan, 24, got the good news during an appointment with Dr. Stephen Forman of the City of Hope National Medical Center on Wednesday and quickly shared it with his wife, Irena, who in October stood behind him, wiping away tears, as he spoke publicly of his condition. Then he woke his parents in the Czech Republic at 4 a.m. to tell them, and Thursday morning he shared the news with his teammates before practice.

“We knew it would just be a matter of time before he found a match,” said defenseman Randy Ladouceur, Holan’s roommate on the road. “He was confident they’d find somebody and he kept his spirits up. It’s a long way from over yet, but that’s the first obstacle.”

Those who have the type of leukemia Holan has, chronic granulocytic leukemia, have few symptoms at first. But without a successful marrow transplant, the disease becomes acute and deadly about 3 1/2 years after diagnosis. With a transplant, a patient such as Holan has about a 70% chance of a cure.

Holan has had no symptoms other than an elevated white blood cell count and played in 16 games for the Ducks while the international search for a donor went on. A registration drive in Orange last month drew 800 people to be tested.

Holan had two goals and two assists but had not been in the lineup the last two games after playing poorly against the Kings on Dec. 27. He will leave the team now, going on injured reserve to spend time with his wife and their 5-year-old daughter, Veronica, while awaiting the transplant.

“We want to spend time together. That’s important for everybody,” said Holan, whose daughter later will stay with grandparents in the Czech Republic so Irena can devote her full attention to helping Holan through the difficult recovery. “You still have to think about other things. It’s great news, but it’s still 75% [survival rate.]”

Although doctors believed they were most likely to find a match in Europe because of Holan’s genetic background, the potential donor is in the National Marrow Donor Program’s registry of nearly 2 million U.S. volunteers. Donors remain anonymous and are not told who the recipient is until a year after the transplant.

Forman, who is treating Holan and is director of hematology and bone marrow transplantation at the City of Hope, said Holan is “in the phase of getting himself mentally and physically ready” for a transplant.

Once a transplant is scheduled, Forman said, Holan will prepare to undergo an intensive eight-day regimen of chemotherapy and radiation right before the transplant that will eliminate disease but also leave him unable to battle infection.

Then the donated marrow will be transfused into Holan’s bloodstream, much like a blood transfusion, and the healthy marrow cells will travel to bone cavities, where they begin to grow and replace the diseased marrow.

Susceptible to infection and other complications, Holan will have to be isolated in a protected environment and remain in the hospital about six weeks, then continue under a recovery watch for three or four more months, taking extreme precautions against infection.

“We’ve read a lot of books,” said Holan, who also has talked to a number of people who have undergone transplants. “We’re prepared. I just want to stay positive and hope for a good preparation. [After leaving the hospital], I’ll have to stay at home and I cannot go outside for probably six months. They’ll see how I’m doing and I’ll still be under lot of medication. Hopefully everything will be going well.

“When I feel well, I want to start playing again. Right now, I’m thinking about the transplant and then, I don’t know. First of all, I want to be healthy.”