Bone Marrow Donor Found for Ducks’ Holan

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

Though 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, diagnosed in September with a slow-progressing form of leukemia, said the dangerous transplant procedure and tedious year-long recovery will be “very, very hard, but I know that’s better. If you have a donor, you have a better chance to cure this.

“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 in Duarte and quickly shared it with his wife, Irena, who in October stood behind him wiping away tears as he announced 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.”

The type of leukemia Holan has, chronic granulocytic leukemia, exhibits few symptoms at first. But without a successful marrow transplant, it develops into an acute and deadly form of the disease an average of 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. He has played in 16 games for the Ducks this season while the international search for a donor went on.

Holan had two goals and two assists but had not been in the lineup the last two games after playing poorly Dec. 27 against the Kings. He’ll 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 will stay with grandparents in the Czech Republic so his wife can give her full attention to helping him through the recovery. “You still have to think about other things. It’s great news, but it’s still 75% [survival rate.]”

Though doctors believed they were most likely to find a match in Europe because of Holan’s genetic background, the potential donor who has been found is in the National Marrow Donor Program’s registry of nearly two million U.S. volunteers. Donors remain anonymous and are not told who the recipient is until a year after the transplant, in part to prevent undue pressure to proceed. After a year, donor and recipient are given an opportunity to contact each other.

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

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

“We’ve read a lot of books. We’re prepared,” said Holan, who also has talked to a number of people who have undergone transplants. “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,” he said. “Right now, I’m thinking about the transplant and then, I don’t know. First of all, I want to be healthy.”